[Good Morning Stock Market] Last Week's US Stock Market Rebound... Will the Korean Stock Market Continue Its Uptrend?

On the 10th, the domestic stock market is expected to continue a differentiated market trend among sectors, influenced by last week's rebound in the U.S. stock market and tariff news.

Earlier, on the 7th (local time), the three major indices on the New York Stock Exchange all closed higher. The Nasdaq Index, centered on technology stocks, ended the day at 18,196.22, up 126.96 points (0.70%) from the previous trading day. The S&P 500 Index, focused on large-cap stocks, rose 31.68 points (0.55%) to 5,770.20, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Index) finished the week at 42,801.72, up 222.64 points (0.52%).

AFP Yonhap News

Last week, investor sentiment, which had been unsettled due to trade war concerns and various economic indicators slowing down, stabilized after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated that the Fed would not rush interest rate decisions for the time being, considering domestic and international conditions, and gave a positive assessment of the U.S. economy. Ji-won Kim, a researcher at KB Securities, explained, "Chairman Powell evaluated that the U.S. economy is still in a good position, the labor market is robust, and inflation is closer to the 2% long-term target, which stimulated bargain buying sentiment."

By stock, Broadcom's shares rose 8.6% after emphasizing the sustainability of demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips and drawing a line on acquiring Intel's business unit. Walgreens, the largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., saw its stock rise 7.5% following news that it would be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore for about $10 billion. Palantir, aiming to be the leader in AI stocks, also closed up 5.5% on the back of favorable news about supplying AI support systems to the U.S. Army. On the other hand, Costco fell about 6% due to quarterly earnings below expectations and tariff shocks acting as negative factors.

Seong-hoon Lee, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, diagnosed, "In a situation where tariff uncertainties under the Trump administration dominate the stock market, the fact that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bezent expressed no intention to intervene in the stock price decline suggests that the market could easily be swayed by tariff news flow again this week." He added, "At this point, not only recession noise but also stagflation noise is being generated, so the impact of the February Consumer Price Index (CPI) event scheduled for the 12th on the stock market is expected to increase."

The day after the CPI announcement on the 12th, the U.S. February Producer Price Index (PPI) will be released. On the 14th, the preliminary University of Michigan inflation expectations for March will be published. Additionally, from the 12th, the U.S. government will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum.