[Good Morning Market] U.S. Stocks Hit by Oil and Rates... Korea Expected to Open Lower

Trump’s Rejection of Seven-Day Ceasefire Adds Pressure

“Major Macroeconomic Events Await in the Latter Half of the Week”

With the New York stock market closing lower across the board due to factors such as rising interest rates, ongoing Middle East instability, and growing calls to regulate the pace of artificial intelligence (AI) development, the Korean stock market is expected to open lower on September 29, 2026.

On September 28 (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 51,481.51, down 347.11 points (0.67%) from the previous session. The large-cap S&P 500 Index fell 59.72 points (0.77%) to end at 7,683.69, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index finished at 26,820.38, down 248.33 points (0.92%).

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, stated, "In addition to a simultaneous decline among AI-related stocks following the temporary pause in training at OpenAI’s latest model, other factors included U.S. President Donald Trump's rejection of a seven-day ceasefire proposal between the U.S. and Iran." She added, "The across-the-board decline in the New York market came on the back of rising oil prices and the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hitting 5.24%, which added macroeconomic pressure."

The drop in AI-related stocks was particularly pronounced. AMD fell 3.6%, Micron dropped by 2.6%, Meta plummeted by 4.8%, and both Amazon and Microsoft lost around 1% each. However, Nvidia rose 1.7% after announcing an additional $150 billion share repurchase plan, bringing the total size of its buyback program to $235 billion.

On the 28th (local time), traders are looking at monitor screens at the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

With the Korean market also expected to start lower, the key consideration will be how much of the early losses can be recovered during the session. This comes as the KOSPI index slipped below 7,000 points again the previous day after four sessions, and leading stocks Samsung Electronics and SK hynix both plunged more than 5%.

The researcher remarked, "We anticipate a lower opening due to the sharp climb in U.S. 10-year Treasury yields, weakness in U.S. semiconductor stocks driven by the OpenAI news, and Samsung Electronics’ ex-dividend date." However, he added, "As much of the negative impact from OpenAI was already reflected in the market the previous day, we could see investors buying on dips due to the perceived excessive drop in the index, helping the market gradually recover some losses during the session."

He further noted, "The market has not deviated from our baseline scenario of 'high rates resilience, a market bottom upgraded after a recovery in AI-led momentum.' Looking ahead, with major events like Micron's earnings report, the U.S. September jobs data, and Korea's September exports all coming up later in the week, the benefits of selling stocks to hedge volatility are likely to be limited."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.