[Good Morning Stock Market] Macro Jitters Amid Mixed U.S. Trading... South Korea Braces for "Stock-Specific Divergence"

AI Rebound Meets Concerns Over Oil Prices and Interest Rates

U.S. stocks were mixed overnight as a rebound in artificial intelligence (AI) companies coincided with political uncertainty in Europe and another rise in oil prices. In South Korea, macroeconomic headwinds and easing concerns over semiconductors are expected to drive divergent performance among individual stocks.

On Oct. 19 (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.07% from the previous session to close at 51,966.03 on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 rose 0.41% to 7,690.73, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.11% to finish at 26,430.89.

A display board showing the domestic stock market at Hana Bank's dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Oct. 16, as the KOSPI opened more than 1% higher after ending a streak of sharp declines that had continued through the previous day. 2026.10.16. Photo by Kang Jinhyeong.

AI and semiconductor stocks rebounded as some concerns over the AI infrastructure industry eased. Goldman Sachs raised its rating on neocloud provider CoreWeave, while Bank of America (BoA) also said semiconductor stocks were undervalued. Micron rose 3.0% and SanDisk gained 5.5%, while CoreWeave edged down 0.4%.

However, uncertainty across the broader stock market remained unresolved amid risks in the Middle East and rising European government bond yields. International oil prices rose again as concerns over supply disruptions resurfaced following attacks by Houthi rebels. The yield on France's 10-year government bonds topped 4.90% intraday amid large-scale protests and uncertainty surrounding fiscal reform.

"The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index's solid performance is likely to have a positive effect on the South Korean market today," said Seo Sangyoung, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities. "However, after rising early in the session, U.S. stocks gave back some of their gains as selling emerged late in the day amid a sharp spike in European government bond yields and oil price concerns stemming from geopolitical risks in the Middle East. The South Korean market is therefore expected to open slightly lower."

He added, "Stocks related to cloud computing, AI software, Tesla and Moderna, which performed well in the U.S. market, tend to draw attention to Nvidia-related conferences and momentum from the European Society for Medical Oncology. With pressure from rising global long-term interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty persisting, we expect individual stocks to diverge as the market absorbs selling during the session, rather than seeing a broad-based rally across the indexes."

Han Jiyoung, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, also said that upside and downside factors were acting at the same time, leading to divergent performance among individual stocks. "Upside factors include the Nasdaq's successful rebound in the U.S. the previous day and technical buying amid continued perceptions that stocks are oversold. At the same time, downside factors include political uncertainty originating in Europe and investor caution ahead of U.S. mega-cap earnings in the middle of the week. With the market's overall upside likely to be limited, we expect performance to diverge by sector," he said.

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