Stock Market Plunges on Rate Fears: Should You Sell Semiconductor Stocks Now? The Right Time to Cash Out Is 'This Moment' | Lee Young-hoon, Director at iM Securities Seoul Financial Center

Summary

Lee Young-hoon, Director at iM Securities Seoul Financial Center, discusses a sharp Korean market decline driven by rate fears, higher PPI, foreign selling, and upcoming FOMC, BOJ, and CPI events. He leans toward a Fed hold rather than a hike and sees market rate fears as somewhat overdone. He prefers holding AI semiconductor leaders while watching AI power bottlenecks, nuclear, LNG, wind, solar, and construction on pullbacks, and he is cautious on refiners and Korean transformer and power-equipment names. He also favors U.S. quantum-computing exposure over Korean quantum stocks.

• Korean stocks fell on rate-hike fears and foreign selling, then rebounded on war-halt news.
• Lee expects more risk from CPI, FOMC, and BOJ but sees limited evidence for a rate hike.
• He says Samsung Electronics and SK hynix do not need to be sold at current prices.
• He sees AI power demand supporting nuclear, LNG, wind, and solar themes.
• He views construction as a common denominator for data centers, nuclear, and LNG projects.
• He is cautious on Korean refiners and says Korean transformer and power-equipment upside is capped by global peers.
• He prefers U.S. quantum-computing exposure over Korean quantum stocks.
• He says some non-core stocks should be trimmed into strength or cash before macro events.