Time for for an in-depth look at the market action on this Wednesday.
And for that, I'm joined on the line by Dr. Hwang Seiwoon, research fellow at the Korea Capital Market Institute.
Dr. Hwang, thank you for coming on today.
Thank you.
Now, the Korean government is taking Japan off of its own list of trusted trading partners in response to Japan's trade curbs. To what degree is this going to affect Japanese companies and what might Japan do about it?
South Korean companies shipping strategic goods to Japan will now have to submit five documents to win individual approval, which is more than the previous three. The approval process will also take around 15 days, longer than the previous five. Local exporters also need to go through tougher and longer procedures to win comprehensive approval to ship goods to Japan for a two-year expiry, shorter than the three-year period granted for trusted countries.
The impacts on Japanese economy and business are likely to be limited. Though Korea’s new export regulation toward Japan is to respond Japan’s retaliatory export restriction, it is not Seoul’s best interest to reduce export to Japan, considering South Korea’s large amount of the trade deficit against Japan. Seoul’s best response would be to rather increase exports to Japan and decrease imports from Japan at the same time. This implies that the new scheme is less likely to be harshly implemented in the approval process. And Japan is not likely to intensify retaliation in response to Seoul’s move.
U.S. stocks, you'd think, might have taken a beating from the attack on the Saudi Arabia oil facilities. But with the Fed Open Markets Committee meeting this week, they were up on Tuesday. Korean stocks up today too. Take us through the global markets.
U.S. stocks ended slightly higher Tuesday, but gains were capped as the Federal Reserve kicked off a two-day monetary policy meeting. Crude oil gave back some of Monday’s 15% surge as Saudi officials said they had restored just under half the output lost at the Abqaiq plant, one of the world’s biggest oil facilities. The S&P 500 Index posted a small advance, with dividend paying real-estate shares faring best. Ten-year Treasury yields fell toward 1.8% and the dollar weakened after the New York Fed took action to calm money markets.
Stocks in Asia opened mixed as investors awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Equity indexes in Japan edged down, while Hong Kong and South Korea traded flat. Stocks of oil companies in Asian region mostly slipped in Wednesday trade, following a sharp drop in crude prices overnight after Saudi Arabia signaled its oil supply could return to normal soon. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.12% while South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.43%.
The Saudi attacks may have clouded the economic outlook somewhat at the same time the FOMC is meeting. An interest rate cut has been widely expected. What do you think the Fed's going to do with rates this week?
The Fed's meeting is scheduled t
