AI Selloff Pushes Investors to Yen as SK Hynix Kills US IPO and Anthropic's Listing Looms

Investors are pulling back from artificial intelligence stocks and moving money into safer assets, as a wave of doubts about AI returns hit markets this week. The nervousness pushed the U.S. dollar lower against the Japanese yen, forced SK Hynix to cancel a U.S. initial public offering (IPO), and left credit markets flashing warning signs [270155][270089][266316].

The dollar held steady on the surface on Monday, but pressure was building underneath. Growing unease over AI stocks pushed traders toward the yen, long viewed as a safe-haven currency, while the euro came under strain as AI jitters rippled through global markets [270155]. The dollar's flat performance masked the tension beneath the surface, with currency markets on edge as AI uncertainty showed no sign of easing [270155].

The retreat from AI shares comes as stock prices fell, a company withdrew its planned public offering, and the cost of insuring against credit defaults rose, setting the stage for upcoming earnings reports from major tech companies [270049]. Traders betting on chip stocks are losing big this month; investors had poured a record sum into a leveraged semiconductor fund last week, and renewed fears about AI investment returns are now hitting the market hard [270080]. One strategist warned that investors have bet heavily on AI stocks assuming they can withstand rising interest rates — a belief that may be wrong, as strong corporate earnings collide with higher borrowing costs [265375].

SK Hynix cancelled the U.S. IPO for its flash-memory subsidiary, a decision that came as oil prices jumped and stock markets fell again [270089]. The company did not give a reason for the decision [270089].

Credit markets added to the anxiety. The riskiest junk bonds — high-yield debt from companies with poor credit ratings — are flashing warning signs, with prices falling and yields rising sharply, a pattern that can suggest investors are growing worried about corporate defaults [266316]. The message for now is unclear, with credit markets pulling in different directions and leaving investors uncertain about what comes next [266316].

Against that backdrop, Anthropic — the company behind the Claude AI chatbot — is preparing to go public on Wall Street, with investors asking a critical question: what exactly will they own? [270122] The company has close ties to major cloud providers, the large companies that supply computing power for AI systems, raising questions about how independent it can remain [270122]. Anthropic also uses a unique governance structure, meaning its founders may keep significant control after the IPO and limit the power of outside shareholders [270122]. The company is expected to carry a high valuation, but investors will need to weigh its growth potential against its complex corporate structure and its dependence on cloud partners [270122]. Reports also indicate Anthropic is struggling to secure enough computing power from cloud providers that increasingly see the AI company as a competitor, with infrastructure spending surging ahead of a planned November IPO [267189].