▲AI PRISM* Customized Economic Briefing
*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "AI-based customized news recommendation and summary service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items for each reader type.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Selective Hormuz Passage: As the National Security Committee of Iran's parliament reviews a bill blocking vessels belonging to hostile states such as the United States and Israel from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the situation is unfolding in the opposite direction from the US side's earlier notice that the strait would soon reopen. Iran appears to be seizing the initiative in negotiations by agreeing with Oman on geographic coordinates for passage and even detailing a proposal to impose tolls based on cargo value.
■ HBM Supply Crunch: Nvidia is reviewing a plan to reduce the capacity of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to be mounted on its next-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) "Rubin Ultra" below the original plan, US information technology (IT) outlet The Information reported. The possibility that memory suppliers may struggle to produce enough HBM4E in time for the launch schedule is cited as the background for the specification downgrade review.
■ Momentum Strategy Rises: Amid growing volatility across individual stocks as expectations and concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors diverge, momentum strategies that concentrate investment in stocks leading upward trends are delivering results. An exchange-traded fund (ETF) that selectively includes top-performing stocks within the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 on a rules-based approach is recording returns exceeding the Nasdaq 100 index.
[News of Interest to Global Investors]
1. "No US or Israel": Iran Pushes Selective Hormuz Passage
- Key Summary: The National Security Committee of Iran's parliament is reviewing a bill banning vessels of hostile states such as the United States and Israel from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's state-run Fars News Agency reported on the 6th. The bill also includes vessels transporting Israel-related military and civilian cargo and vessels involved in military action against pro-Iran forces as targets for the passage ban, and contains a plan to impose a fine of up to 20% of cargo value for violations. Iran has also agreed with Oman on setting coordinates and is pushing a system in which Iran manages incoming vessels while both countries jointly manage outgoing vessels, and is detailing a toll proposal. US President Donald Trump mentioned falling oil prices and an early end to the war at the White House, but Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed it as a "diplomatic show."
2. Amid Memory Shortage, Will Nvidia Cut HBM Capacity?
- Key Summary: Nvidia is reviewing a plan to mount less HBM capacity than originally planned on its next-generation GPU Rubin Ultra, The Information reported citing sources. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang pledged at last year's developer conference to mount 1TB (terabyte) of HBM4E per GPU, but samples currently under testing have reduced stack layers and per-die capacity, and some are found to use the previous-generation HBM4. The memory capacity of some samples is only 192GB (gigabytes) and 256GB, falling short of the 288GB maximum HBM4 capacity of the Rubin currently in mass production. The specification downgrade could lead to performance declines, but reactions note it may create room for price cuts, benefiting customers seeking cost savings.
3. S&P 500 Momentum Strategy Shines in Volatile Market...22.95% Return Year-to-Date
- Key Summary: According to Koscom ETF CHECK on the 7th, the 'KIWOOM US S&P500 Momentum' ETF recorded a return of 22.95% year-to-date as of the previous day. This exceeds the S&P 500 index's 12.42% over the same period by more than 10 percentage points and is also 6.42 percentage points higher than the Nasdaq 100 index's 16.53%, continuing an upward trend with 6.51% over the past three months and 25.21% over six months. This product tracks the same index as the US-listed 'Invesco S&P500 Momentum ETF (SPMO),' selectively including only the top 100 stocks by return relative to volatility over the past year. In the March rebalancing (portfolio reconstruction), the stock turnover ratio reached 54.5%, and the information technology (IT) sector weighting was raised from 33.2% to 44.4%, while the financial sector was sharply reduced from 19.5% to 6.3%.
4. Amid Hormuz Bottleneck, US BWET ETF Jumps 51% in a Month
- Key Summary: As conflict between the United States and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz continues, ETFs related to the Middle East conflict are delivering high returns. The 'Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF (BWET)' recorded a one-month return of 57.61%, ranking first among US-listed ETFs excluding leverage and inverse products, with 44.41% over three months and 566.0% over six months. This product allocates about 90% of its assets to forward freight agreements (FFA) for the 'TD3C' route, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) route from the Middle East Gulf to China, and the daily round-trip time charter equivalent (TCE) for TD3C on the Baltic Exchange basis jumped to $423,434 at the end of last month, 7.6 times the level at the start of the year. Meanwhile, energy ETFs also showed strength together, with BNO holding Brent crude futures rising 18.60%, USO investing in West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rising 13.91%, and XLE holding US energy companies rising 9.47%.
▶Go to article: Hana Bank to Block Variable-Rate Mortgages...Credit Line Capped at 50 Million Won
▶Go to article: KDB Life Pursues Seventh Sale Attempt...KDB Capital Increase Negotiations a Variable
▶Go to article: Coway Q2 Revenue 1.4422 Trillion Won...Up 14.6% Year-on-Year
