The bull market tripped, but didn’t exactly faceplant
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.2% on Friday, which is the kind of move that makes everyone check their portfolio app like it owes them money. It also logged its biggest one-day point loss on record, sending a little shockwave through global markets.
And now the dominoes are wobbling
That U.S. tech stumble didn’t stay in the U.S. The Kospi in South Korea — which has a pretty serious tech bias of its own — fell 8.1% on Monday. In other words, when U.S. mega-cap tech sneezes, the rest of the world sometimes reaches for a tissue.
Morgan Stanley’s take: pain, but make it healthy
The headline argument here is that this is a "healthy reset" for the bull market, not the start of a dramatic melt-up-in-reverse. Translation: after a strong run, a pullback can flush out excess optimism, cool down crowded trades, and make the next leg higher a little less chaotic.
Why you should care
If you own growth stocks, semis, ETFs tied to the Nasdaq, or basically anything that starts with "AI," this is your reminder that momentum can work both ways. Big selloffs can be unsettling, but they also tell you where the market was most stretched in the first place.
Big picture: the bull market may still be alive — it just took a caffeine-fueled stumble and needs a minute to stand back up.