WSJ What’s News - AI Bubble Fears Roar Back, Slamming Chip Stocks

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

A.M. Edition for Nov. 21. Asian semiconductor stocks tumbled, a day after Nvidia’s gains were erased on U.S. markets as investors continue to question AI valuations. Plus, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup pull out of a planned $20 billion bailout to Argentina that was pushed by the Trump administration. And WSJ chief China correspondent Lingling Wei details how China is ramping up a new pressure campaign on Taiwan. Kate Bullivant hosts.Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. Semiconductor stocks tumble as fears over AI valuations come roaring back. Plus Wall Street opts out of a $20 billion U.S. bailout for Argentina. There is a geopolitical reason for why Trump wants to help Argentina. But Wall Street wants its money back. And so I think that's where these plans have fallen apart. And China prepares its people and the world for a new problem. pressure campaign on Taiwan. It's Friday, November 21st. I'm Kate Bullivant for the Wall Street

Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. We're exclusively reporting that a planned $20 billion bailout from U.S. banks to Argentina has been shelved, as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup pivot to a smaller short-term loan package instead. Markets reporter Chelsea Delaney has been covering the U.S. bailout of Argentina and says instead banks are proposing a short-term $5 billion loan package to help cover a debt repayment in January. So the real sticking point in these negotiations has always been security

for the banks lending this money to Argentina. $20 billion is a lot of money. And Argentina is a serial defaulter. It's defaulted nine times on its sovereign debt. So there is a legitimate risk that Argentina will not be able to pay back this debt. So the banks going into this, they wanted either Argentina to give them collateral that they could use if it's not able to pay back the debt or the U.S. Treasury Department to guarantee it. That seems to be where these negotiations have fallen apart.

Parts of the bailout are still going ahead. But as Chelsea explains, there's a mismatch between what the Trump administration wants and what Wall Street is willing to do. The U.S. in a separate agreement has this $20 billion dollar currency swap agreement with Argentina. And Javier Malay and Trump have this bromance. They agree on a lot of economic principles. And so there is sort of diplomatic, a geopolitical reason for why Trump wants to help Argentina. But Wall Street clearly does have some concerns about making a really big push into lending money to Argentina.

Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks have tumbled in Asia on renewed fears of an artificial intelligence bubble, tracking declines in US chip stocks overnight. Shares in Samsung and SK Hynix, the world's two largest memory chip makers, slumped as much as 6% and 10% respectively. Kimberly Cow covers Asian markets for Dow Jones Newswires. What we are seeing over actually the past two days

is that Asian markets are getting whipsort between the caution and optimism around AI demand. For markets like South Korea and Taiwan, where there's Nvidia suppliers, those semiconductors actually dominate the benchmark weights, which also explains why those markets get caught between these swings. But today, investors are again becoming increasingly nervous about the risk of an AI bubble, which is what's causing market volatility, not just this week, but also in recent weeks. For example, in Bank of America's latest monthly survey, it showed that an AI bubble was cited as one of the top risks by about 45% of institutional investors. For more on this, we've got a special bonus episode coming later today.

In the latest What's News in Earnings, we'll take a look at how chipmakers are raking it in, and why markets can't decide if fears of an AI bubble are real or overblown. That'll be in the feed around midday and we'll have the PM Watts News after that as usual. The Transportation Department has announced that the 776 air traffic controllers with perfect attendance during the government shutdown will receive a $10,000 bonus and at least 400 other technicians and workers in the union are also on track to receive bonuses, according to the professional aviation safety specialists.

At the same time, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News that some federal aviation employees could be penalised for not coming into work. The head of the union, Nick Daniels, said earlier this week that controllers weren't missing work out of protest but because they were unable to pay for childcare. The FAA didn't comment on whether air traffic controllers who called in fatigued would be eligible for the bonus.

And Paramount, Comcast and Netflix have submitted non-binding bids to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery. Paramount is seeking to buy the entire company, including cable networks like CNN, while Comcast and Netflix are only bidding for the studios and streaming assets. Warner Brothers is also moving forward with plans to separate its assets, and any potential deal is expected to face significant regulatory scrutiny. Coming up, China is ramping up a new pressure campaign on Taiwan.

We look at how Beijing is using its so-called pen-and-gun strategy after the break. When you're flying Emirates business class, relaxing in an exclusive airport lounge, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over. until your flight is over. Fly Emirates. Fly better. China is preparing its people and the world for a new pressure campaign on Taiwan. The world's second largest economy is intensifying its so-called pen-and-gun strategy for the island chain, which our chief China correspondent Ling Ling Wei explains is part domestic media campaign

and part aggressive rhetoric toward Taiwan's friends. Ling Ling is with us now. Can you tell us about China's strategy when it comes to Taiwan? What do they mean by pen and gun? The pen and the gun strategy is this classic Maoist strategy for simultaneously waging a domestic psychological warfare, the pen, and demonstrating aggressive external resolve, the gun. The pen refers to China's total control over media and culture. to shape domestic public opinion and frame unification as a heroic cause. And the gun refers to military signaling and diplomatic coercion aimed at Taiwan supporters. So does this mean that a Chinese military strike against Taiwan is imminent?

No, our reporting shows that there is very little sign of an imminent military strike. Instead, what we're reporting based on our sources is that what China is pursuing is so-called Plan A, which is basically a high-pressure gray zone campaign designed to coerce Taiwan into capitulation without firing a shot. It's about basically settling a new baseline normal, preparing domestic audiences and shaping the psychological battle. space long before a military move, which would be a plan B if plan A fails. Interesting. So why are we seeing this increase push from China against Taiwan now? What's changed? So the ultimate goal from China right now is to make Taiwan's position so unbearable, economically, diplomatically and psychologically that Taipei sees negotiations.

with Beijing as the only viable option. By aggressively lashing out at key supporters like Japan, like the public threat to Japan's prime minister, Beijing basically is seeking to neutralize Taiwan's friends and isolate the island internationally. The timing is because China is feeling like the chances of winning the hearts and means the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people are really diminishing,

and they fear that this very distinctive Taiwan identity is solidifying. So they have to try to move now and move fast. And Ling Ling, where does the US stand on all this? What we have heard from our sources in China is that Beijing definitely sees a strategic opening right now. because what they consider wavering signals from the Trump administration's commitment to support Taiwan. Recently, we have seen the administration delayed military aid and being very quiet about whether or not the U.S. would intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan that has filled anxiety in Taipei over whether or not American support. will be sacrificed for economic deal with China. So the U.S. shift characterized by some officials as pragmatic deterrence is forcing Taipei to take greater responsibility for funding

its own defense capabilities. So the overall impact is such that we're seeing this continuous pressure campaign from China is aiming to. to lower the threshold for direct conflict by making economic coercion and political interference seem like the new accepted norm. That was the journal's chief China correspondent Lingling Wei. Lingling, thanks so much for your time. Thank you for having me.

And finally, a week out from Black Friday, deals and countdowns are already dominating retailers' homepages. But another frenzy is underway too in anticipation of Thanksgiving dinner and the growing post-meal ritual known as the Cousins Walk. So if you find that after that last slice of pie, certain family members declare a need for a walk and return to the table minutes later, finding the conversation notably more amusing,

they may in fact have been getting stoned. The so-called Cousins Walk tradition has seemingly spurred sales of marijuana, with dispensaries now reporting Green Wednesday as their second biggest sales day of the year, rivaled only by the annual cannabis celebration of 420 on April 20th. And that's it for what's news for this Friday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bark and Hattie Moyer. Our supervising producer was Sandra Kilhoff, and I'm Kate Bullivant for The Wall Street Journal.

We'll be back tonight with a new show. Until then, have a great weekend, and thanks for listening. Thank you.