US Chip Stocks Rise, KOSPI Breaks 7,000… Hopes for Re-rating of 'Samsung-Hynix' Pair

The survey in question analyzed non-homeowners who bought homes for actual residential use. These people put their entire assets, including stock sale proceeds and savings, toward reaching the average Seoul home price of over 1 billion won. Based on this data, critics say the media tends to twist the numbers, reporting that 'even when stocks rise, money does not move into real estate' or 'people are buying homes.'

Because reporters are reluctant to put their names on such stories, they are credited to bylines like 'online news team,' 'online team,' or 'editorial department.' This, the explanation goes, is a measure to make it hard to hold reporters alone responsible for the content.

In the past, reporters were not allowed to write any headlines, since crafting a good one was considered a specialized skill. Today, with a flood of articles, some headline-writing is left to individual reporters' discretion, but for major articles, headlines are always decided by senior editors such as desk heads and the managing editor after discussion among experienced editing staff. Critics point out that because these senior editors are closely tied to management and owners' interests, headlines tend to be altered to curry favor with management.

Unless the content is a declarative statement about the country's major direction or future, such as a major presidential announcement, quotation marks are considered inappropriate. Quotation marks have occasionally been used in the US for grand declarations, such as President Kennedy's 'Let's go to the dollar,' but critics say the line has now completely collapsed in Korean media.

It was strongly emphasized that people should never use paid investment chat-room services that recommend specific stocks for a fee. Such services not only fail to help investors but can actually cause harm, the warning goes. Joining lectures or specific gatherings also requires caution, and paying money to receive stock recommendations should be avoided.

Instead, for those who want to learn investing, the advice was to look for lectures that teach investing methods. The lectures in question are free and will be held in Ansan and Magok, Gangseo, Seoul, and interested investors were encouraged to attend.

An analysis of the current price situation found that price pressure in Stage 4, namely the services sector, remains high. While the sectors using raw materials at the early stage of the supply chain showed relatively decent figures, inflation in Stage 4, where institutional services such as finance, distribution, and consulting are concentrated, was higher than expected. This means 'sticky inflation' pressure persists, and the outlook is that the direction of service-sector prices will be the key variable determining overall inflation going forward.

Two main reasons were presented for why US Treasury yields have not fallen. The first is that confidence in US fiscal policy has weakened. There are concerns that if the US keeps borrowing and seems unwilling to reduce its debt, the value of its bonds could be shaken. US national debt currently exceeds 100% of GDP, meaning debt is larger than the economy itself, and has nearly doubled compared with the past.

The second is long-term price instability. In the short term, policymakers such as the FOMC are restraining price increases, but the market strongly perceives that unless prices fundamentally fall, long-term rates, which are beyond the reach of policymakers, will rise to reflect inflation. Short-term rates remain under policymakers' influence, but long-term rates are determined by market forces, which is why they are not falling, the analysis says.

Some observers argue that yields have reached a peak with no room left to rise, and that from here they can only fall. This outlook rests on the judgment that such high rates weigh on the market, and that further increases could shock the entire economy and would be hard to sustain.

Analysts say this has major implications for Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. SanDisk's shareholder return policy is being read as a very positive signal for investors and could pressure other chip companies to adopt similar shareholder-friendly policies. In particular, the announcement of returning 100% of free cash flow (FCF) to shareholders shocked the industry.

No HBF technical sample exists yet, and the two companies plan to build one together. At an investor event, SanDisk presented HBF as a core growth driver for next-generation AI memory and said it is developing products optimized for GPUs. The tape-out (design completion) of the first HBM (high-bandwidth memory) product has already been completed, and samples are expected to ship in 2027 on a wafer-limit basis. This suggests new AI memory technology could appear in the market sooner than expected.

The US has begun approving overseas construction as it faces an aging warship problem. Analysts say this could create a new opportunity for the Korean shipbuilding industry. The US Navy has formidable combat power, but many of its ships are severely aged and struggling to operate. There have even been cases of ships returning to port mid-mission because a toilet or washing machine broke down.

Recently, the US Navy pushed forward six ship-construction programs, but because it has not done design work in a long time, design changes and program cancellations have caused setbacks and delayed warship construction. The situation has become serious enough to threaten US security. Unable to solve the problem on its own, the US has approved overseas construction, which could give Korean shipbuilders, with their high technical capability and production capacity, a large-scale order opportunity.

SMRs have many positive aspects conceptually, but the problem is that no standardized model exists yet. Some legal and institutional matters have also not been properly sorted out, making it difficult to move projects forward.

This candid confession speaks to difficulties individual investors may face, and indirectly shows the importance of knowing yourself before investing.

Critic Yoon added that through his experience he came to appreciate how difficult it is to read market trends and make sound judgments. In particular, having directly experienced how emotional decision-making harms investing, he stressed that individual investors need a more cautious approach.

The analysis says this is because 'big players' kept lending or tried to suppress the market, knowing about the bad loans, so that the market would not collapse. These moves acted as a factor holding back the price increases individual investors had expected.

The film shows people who make money from the absurdities of the world and raises questions, but many viewers tend to watch it for entertainment and remember only Margot Robbie's bubble-bath scene, thinking they could make money the same way.

This is compared to buying inverse products while stock prices are rising, and there is concern that it can instill the mistaken expectation that you too can succeed like the characters in the film. It was emphasized that one should be wary of stirring the desire for overnight riches, which can lead to poor investment judgments, rather than conveying the film's intended message. Therefore, apart from analyzing the market's structural problems or the few success stories, individual investment decisions must be approached with care.

Institutions were criticized for removing the buy button on trading platforms that individual investors mainly use. This was condemned as an unfair act, comparable to asking someone to compete after cutting off one arm. The analysis behind this is that funds and institutions invested in the platform acted together to exert pressure.

Ultimately, such conduct was criticized as infringing on individual investors' right to participate fairly in the market and as an attempt by institutions to manipulate the market in their own favor. It was stressed that this seriously undermines market fairness and fosters an unfair game that can cause enormous losses for individual investors.

The explanation is that as individual investors band together to take on institutions and push up stock prices, as the film depicted, this phenomenon later appeared in real markets, popularizing the concept of 'meme stocks.'

In March 1910, before being executed at Lüshun Prison, Ahn Jung-geun left the words: "After I die, bury me beside Harbin Park, and when our country regains its sovereignty, move me to my homeland. Even in heaven, I will work for our nation's independence. When the sound of Korea's independence is heard across the country, I will surely dance and cry 'Hurrah!'" These words show the martyr's fervent wish for national independence and deep love for future generations, and remain an important message reminding us of the meaning of liberation today.