U.S. Stocks Up 1% on War Negotiation Hopes... Will Korea Recover Recent Losses? [Good Morning Market]

Impact of Falling Oil Prices and Interest Rates

Nvidia's Record-Breaking Earnings

Korean Stock Market Expected to Recover Recent Losses

The U.S. stock market closed higher on news that war negotiations between the United States and Iran had entered their final stage. In addition, with Nvidia's record-breaking earnings, there are expectations that the domestic stock market will recover recent losses.

On the 20th (local time) in the New York stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 50,009.35, up 645.47 points (1.31%) from the previous session. The S&P 500 index rose by 79.36 points (1.08%) to 7,432.97, while the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 26,270.36, up 399.65 points (1.55%).

The reason for the rise in the U.S. stock market is the expectation of a ceasefire following U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that negotiations had entered their final stage. The previous day, Trump mentioned that negotiations with Iran had reached the final phase, and foreign media in Saudi Arabia reported that a final agreement would soon be reached. As a result, international oil prices, such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), fell below $100, and the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note eased below 4.6%, signaling a calming trend. The strong performance of semiconductor stocks ahead of Nvidia's earnings announcement (Nvidia up 1.3%, Micron up 4.8%) also drove the market rebound.

On the 15th, when the KOSPI index surpassed the 8,000 mark intraday for the first time in history, the electronic board in the dealing room of Hana Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul, displayed the domestic stock market index and Samsung Electronics' stock price. 2026.5.15 Photo by Kang Jinhyung

On this day, the domestic stock market is expected to recover recent corrections, supported by several upward factors: the easing of the sharp rise in government bond yields due to optimism about progress in negotiations, the KRW/USD exchange rate falling below the 1,500-won mark, and a 4.5% surge in the KOSPI200 night futures. Another positive factor is Nvidia's earnings surprise, which was announced after the U.S. market closed. Nvidia's quarterly revenue and second-quarter revenue guidance both exceeded market expectations, and the company also presented a positive outlook, including increased capital expenditures (CAPEX) by major big tech companies.

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Although Nvidia is showing a decline of just over 1% in after-hours trading, we believe this is not only due to the exclusion of China sales guidance but also a result of sell-on-news activity after the earnings surprise was already priced in. In addition, with the news last night that Samsung Electronics and its labor union had reached a tentative agreement, the easing of strike risk is expected to create a more favorable supply-demand environment, especially for semiconductor stocks."

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