[New York Stocks] Market Pauses After US-China Rally... Tech Stocks Lead Mixed Close

Market Enters Wait-and-See Mode on Overbought Concerns
Nvidia Surges Over 4% on Major Saudi Deal
Focus Shifts to PPI and Retail Sales Indicators on May 15

The three major indices on the New York Stock Exchange closed mixed in a narrow range on May 14 (local time). After showing strength following the US-China trade agreement, the market entered a "pause" phase. Nvidia, which is supplying a large number of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Saudi Arabia, once again surged more than 4% on the day, leading gains among technology stocks.

Reuters Yonhap News

On the New York Stock Exchange that day, the blue-chip-focused Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) closed at 42,051.06, down 89.37 points (0.21%) from the previous trading day. The large-cap S&P 500 rose 6.03 points (0.1%) to 5,892.58, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 136.72 points (0.72%) to end at 19,146.81.

After the US-China trade agreement over the weekend, risk appetite was pronounced in the market, but on this day, a pause occurred amid concerns that the market had entered overbought territory. The lack of any significant economic indicators following the unexpectedly subdued April Consumer Price Index (CPI) announcement the previous day also contributed to investors' wait-and-see attitude.

Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, said, "As trade tensions ease, investors are shifting their focus back to fundamentals," and diagnosed, "With the market quickly moving from oversold to overbought, unless there is a clear reacceleration in growth, any short-term upside will be limited."

During his Middle East tour, US President Donald Trump secured $243.5 billion (about 340 trillion won) in exports and investments from Qatar on this day. This follows the $600 billion (about 845 trillion won) economic cooperation deal reached in Saudi Arabia the previous day, marking a series of major economic and security package deals in the Middle East, where large sums of "oil money" are being exchanged for security cooperation. The latest deal includes Qatar Airways' purchase of 210 Boeing aircraft from the US, valued at $96 billion.

Investors are now focusing on inflation and consumption indicators set to be released on May 15. Through the April Producer Price Index (PPI) and retail sales data?which serve as a backbone for the US economy, accounting for two-thirds of economic activity?they hope to gauge the impact of tariff policies. So far, tariff-driven inflation has been found to be limited. The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April rose 2.3% year-on-year, coming in below both the March figure and market expectations (both 2.4%). This CPI is the first to reflect the effects of reciprocal tariffs implemented last month, and it is assessed that the direct impact of tariff policy remains minimal at this point.

The value of the dollar is rising slightly. The dollar index, which measures the value of the US dollar against the currencies of six major countries, is up 0.08% from the previous day, standing at 100.9. On news that US and South Korean authorities held working-level talks on exchange rates earlier this month, the dollar had initially fallen in the morning but later reversed to gains. In the market, there is growing speculation that the Trump administration will tolerate a weaker dollar in future trade negotiations in order to reduce the trade deficit.

By stock, Nvidia soared 4.16%. The previous day, Nvidia announced it would supply more than 18,000 of its latest AI chips to Saudi company Humane. AMD, which also supplies semiconductors to Humane alongside Nvidia, jumped 4.68% after announcing a $6 billion (about 8.4 trillion won) share buyback program. Boeing, which is delivering a large number of aircraft to Qatar, managed only a 0.64% gain. Microsoft (MS) and Meta, Facebook's parent company, rose 0.85% and 0.51%, respectively.

Government bond yields are on the rise. The 10-year US Treasury yield, the global benchmark for bond rates, rose 4 basis points (1bp=0.01 percentage point) from the previous trading day to 4.54%. The 2-year Treasury yield, which is sensitive to monetary policy, also climbed 4 basis points to 4.05%.