[Good Morning Stock Market] Focus on Low PBR Stocks... Awaiting US CPI Announcement

On the 13th, in the domestic stock market, sectors with low price-to-book ratios (PBR) attracted attention, while a wait-and-see stance was expected ahead of the announcement of major U.S. indicators. The photo shows the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, after the market closed before the Lunar New Year holiday. Photo by Yonhap News

The U.S. stock market closed mixed ahead of the release of the U.S. January Consumer Price Index (CPI). On the 13th, in the domestic stock market, low price-to-book ratio (PBR) sectors are attracting attention, and a cautious stance is expected ahead of the major U.S. economic data releases.

On the 12th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 38,797.38, up 0.33% from the previous session, setting a new all-time high. The S&P 500 index fell 0.09% to 5,021.84, and the Nasdaq index closed down 0.3% at 15,942.55.

Large-cap stocks generally showed a weak trend. Microsoft (MS) fell 1.26%, and Apple closed down 0.9%. Nvidia rose sharply during the session to become the 4th largest by market capitalization but ended with only a 0.16% gain. Tesla, the leading electric vehicle stock, dropped nearly 3%.

U.S. Treasury yields declined slightly ahead of the January CPI release the next day. As of 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the 10-year Treasury yield fell 0.8 basis points (1bp = 0.01 percentage points) to 4.179%, and the 2-year Treasury yield dropped 0.1bp to 4.478%. The January Producer Price Index (PPI) release is also scheduled for the 16th.

On the 13th, the first trading day after the Lunar New Year holiday, the domestic stock market is also expected to show a cautious stance ahead of the U.S. January inflation data release. Additionally, several events remain, including U.S. January retail sales, industrial production, and the MSCI quarterly review.

Heo Jae-hwan, a global strategy researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, said, "After the Lunar New Year holiday, the domestic stock market is likely to enter another phase of differentiation," adding, "It is necessary to distinguish sustainable sectors among the low PBR sectors."

He also noted, "Looking at interest rates, it is difficult for sectors such as banks and insurance to improve earnings, but interest rates have recently stabilized downward," and pointed out, "There is room for further price increases in the automobile sector stocks, which have a clear inverse relationship between interest rates and stock prices."