U.S. stocks were set to open sharply lower Tuesday as a tech sell-off that began during the prior session picked up steam overnight, with global markets in Asia routed as memory chip-related shares tumbled. Nasdaq futures were pointing to a nearly 3% decline on Tuesday. Nasdaq 100 futures slid 3.1%. S&P 500 futures were 1.4% lower, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 215 points, or 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.3% in Monday’s session, dragged down by shares of Alphabet primarily. The selling then picked up globally, with South Korea’s Kospi leading the region’s losses. Memory chip leader SK Hynix, which has led a speculative AI frenzy in the country, closed down more than 12%. The South Korea benchmark, which is up 95% this year, was down almost 10%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 3.55%, breaking eight sessions of gains. U.S.-traded Micron Technology then followed suit in early U.S. trading, with the memory chipmaker down 9% in premarket action. SanDisk fell nearly 10%, while components maker Seagate Technology also shed more than 7%. Intel pulled back more than 7%, while Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm lost more than 7% and 6%, respectively. The State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) dropped 3% in early trading Tuesday. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) fell 6%. Meanwhile, SpaceX traded more than 2% lower, putting it on pace for its fourth straight losing session. Alphabet continued its losing ways, down almost 2% after a 5% down day on Monday tied to concerns about high-profile AI talent departures at the company. “The AI beneficiaries are the sell-off, and I don’t think they’re expensive, but they’re crowded,” said Andrew Slimmon, a senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday. ” It’s captured kind of the zeitgeist of the momentum traders, and when that happens, you’re going to have sharp sell-offs like we’re having. I’d argue it’s healthy. ” European shares also fell sharply on Tuesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 down 1%. The Stoxx 600 Technology index led regional losses, with a decline of 3%. Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASMI and chipmaker STMicroelectronics, both down more than 6%, were among the biggest downward movers on the Stoxx 600. Recent IPO Cerebras will report earnings after the bell Tuesday, while Micron will report results on Wednesday after the close. Defensive-oriented stocks were higher in premarket trading, with Walmart and Johnson & Johnson higher. U.S. Treasury yields fell on Tuesday, despite fears of higher interest rates dealing a blow to tech stocks globally, while investors await key inflation data due to be released Thursday. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — fell 2 basis points to 4.487%. The 2-year Treasury note yield, which more closely tracks short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, was more than 3 basis points lower at 4.198%. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield fell less than 1 basis point to 4.94%. Asia-Pacific markets closed in the red after giving up gains from early in the session, with South Korea’s Kospi leading the region’s losses. The benchmark index was down almost 10%, ending the trading day at 8,203.84, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 7.94% lower at 891.52. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 3.55% to close the trading day at 69,788.38, breaking eight sessions of gains. The Topix lost 2.56% to close at 3,990.38. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.33% to 8,787. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.82% to close at 23,336.28, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 2.77% to 4,919.39. Oil prices ticked lower Tuesday as investors monitored tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, fell 45 cents to $77.45 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures declined 34 cents to $73.52. President Donald Trump said 19 million barrels of oil flowed through Hormuz on Monday, describing the volume as a record. CNBC could not immediately verify that figure. Around 20 million barrels of crude and refined products were exported through the strait before the Iran War. Gold prices dropped ​almost 2% ​on Tuesday, as the U.S. dollar strengthened to a one-year high on market expectations of a stricter U.S. Federal Reserve, pressuring the non-yielding precious metal. Spot gold fell 1.7% to $4,121.09 an ounce after touching its lowest since June 11 at $4,090.27 earlier. ⁠Bullion has fallen over 3% since the Fed meeting last week. U.S. gold futures for August delivery fell 1.5% to $4,139 an ounce. For gold, hawkish Fed policy to counter inflation arising from war-driven energy costs has outweighed softer oil prices stemming from ‌U.S.-Iran peace talks in Switzerland on Monday. “The strength of the dollar, reinforced by last week’s hawkish tilt from the Fed, is creating a headwind for ​gold prices,” said ActivTrades analyst Ricardo Evangelista.