00:02You're listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
00:31At home, individual investors bought $1.35 trillion, about $1 billion, worth of double-leveraged
00:39domestic ETFs during the same stretch.
00:42A Seoul Economic Daily column this week argues oil is a poor inflation hedge, and that growth
00:48stocks paired with gold have historically done the job better.
00:51Meanwhile, global bond yields are climbing fast, with the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield
00:56hitting its highest level since 2007.
00:58It's Wednesday, October 21.
01:01Let's look at what this means for retail investors in Korea.
01:05Korean stocks just suffered their fastest 10-day decline outside of an actual financial crisis,
01:10driven by AI credit worries, chip profit doubts, and a stronger one hurting exporters.
01:16Rather than retreating, many retail investors are treating the plunge as a buying opportunity,
01:21pouring fresh money into leveraged ETFs that amplify both gains and losses.
01:25At the same time, rising global bond yields and an ongoing debate over inflation hedges are
01:31reshaping how individual investors think about protecting their portfolios.
01:36Here's what the numbers show.
01:47Korean investors bought $267.67 million of the Direction Daily MSCI South Korea bull, 3X ETF, known as KORU, even
02:00as it lost over 40% of its value in a week.
02:02Domestically, individual investors bought a combined $1.35 trillion, or roughly $1 billion, across three leveraged ETFs tied to the
02:13COSPI, COSTAC, and semiconductor sector.
02:17Those same leveraged products posted losses between 20% and 30% over the same week.
02:23A Seoul Economic Daily Investment column notes,
02:26Gold jumped about 15% in August alone, after real interest rates briefly touched 2.5% before retreating.
02:34The U.S. 30-year Treasury yield has climbed to 5.31% this month, its highest level since 2007.
02:40So what does this mean for retail investors holding Korean stocks and ETFs?
02:46Earlier, we said retail money kept flowing into triple leveraged Korea ETFs, even as they lost 40% in a
02:52week.
02:53Here's what that actually means for you.
02:55Leveraged products compound daily, so a bounce in the underlying index doesn't guarantee you recover what you lost.
03:01Know how these products actually work before adding more.
03:03With bond yields rising and the inflation hedge debate shifting toward growth stocks in gold, it's worth checking how exposed
03:10your own portfolio already is to both higher rates and semiconductor-heavy tech names.
03:15Whether COSPI holds above the $5,100 to $5,340 range, several brokerages flagged as a near-term floor.
03:24Meta's October 21 earnings release, a key test of whether AI spending is turning into real profit.
03:31Any further volatility in leveraged ETFs like KORU, Codex Leverage, and Codex Semiconductor Leverage.
03:38That's today's AI Prism, retail investors.
03:42This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed by a human editor.
03:49AI Prism is a WANIFRA award-winning series.
03:51We'll be back tomorrow.
03:52You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
03:56computationally.
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