Kospi down over 2% amid political turmoil in South Korea; Asia markets mixed

Dylan Butts

South Korea’s Kospi stock index fell over 2% Monday after President Yoon Suk Yeol survived an impeachment vote over the weekend as the fallout from his brief declaration of martial law continues to roil the country.

The benchmark index fell 2.3%, while the Kosdaq dropped 4.4% as investors continued to monitor the country’s political situation.

While Yoon’s People Power Party boycotted the Saturday impeachment vote brought by opposition parties, its leader has said that Yoon would step down.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in the country have named President Yoon Suk Yeol as a subject of a criminal investigation for potential charges of treason and abuse of power, according to local media reports.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, markets were mixed Monday as traders assessed revised economic growth data from Japan and China’s November inflation data.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.1%, while the Topix gained 0.2%.

Japan’s third-quarter GDP was revised to 0.3% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, up from 0.2% and above estimates from a Reuters poll that predicted no change.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 0.6%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index was down 0.5%.

China’s consumer price growth missed expectations in November, rising by 0.2% year on year, down from a 0.3% increase in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday. Economists from Reuters forecast growth of 0.5%

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded flat to end the day at 8,423.

In the U.S. on Friday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose to fresh records after November jobs data came in slightly better than expected, but not so hot as to deter the Federal Reserve from cutting rates again later this month.

The broad market S&P 500 climbed 0.25% to 6,090.27. Tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.81% to 19,859.77, bolstered by gains in Tesla, Meta Platforms and Amazon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 123.19 points, or 0.28%, to close at 44,642.52.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq went on to their third straight positive week as well, rising 0.96% and 3.34%, respectively. The Dow slipped 0.6% during the period.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed to this report.

China consumer prices climb less than expected as economy slows amid trade war worries

China’s consumer prices rose less-than-expected in November, climbing 0.2% from a year ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Monday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a slight pickup in consumer prices to 0.5% in November from a year ago, versus 0.3% in October.

China’s producer price index declined for the 26th month. Producer inflation fell by 2.5% year on year in November, less than the estimated 2.8% decline as per the Reuters poll. 

The persistent near-zero inflation shows that China is still grappling with sluggish domestic demand and deflation at the wholesale level. This is in spite of Beijing’s slate of stimulus efforts since September which has included interest rate cuts, support for the stock and property markets as well as efforts to boost bank lending.

— Lee Ying Shan

CNBC Pro: Five global stocks the pros are buying before the start of 2025

2024 has seen some massive stock rallies, as investor interest in themes such as AI has shown little sign of waning.

As the year-end nears, CNBC Pro asked three fund managers what global stocks they are buying in the lead-up to 2025, as they attempt to get ahead of the curve.

— Amala Balakrishner

S&P 500 to hit 6,700 by year-end 2025, says HSBC

The S&P 500 is set for more gains in 2025, according to HSBC.

The firm said it expects the broad market index to hit 6,700 by the end of next year, which implies more than 10% upside from Thursday’s close. The index has already risen more than 27% this year.

“While this year’s equity rally was a mix of both earnings growth and a valuation re-rating (c50/50), we expect next year’s equity returns to be focused on earnings growth as valuations are more stretched,” analyst Nicole Inui told clients in a Friday note. “Overall, we expect earnings to grow by 9% incorporating a slower but still resilient US economy and some margin expansion.”

Inui also said she expects the U.S. economy to slow over the course of the next year but remain resilient as inflation eases. That would enable the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by another 125 basis points, she forecast.

— Sean Conlon

UBS says ‘a constructive stance is warranted on global equities’ next year

Despite the threat of tariffs next year, investors should stay bullish on stocks in 2025, according to UBS.

“Heading into 2025, we think a constructive stance is warranted on global equities, and on U.S. stocks in particular,” the bank wrote in a Friday report. “We note that historically U.S. equities tend to rally into presidential elections and after, with the average gain in the 150 trading days following an election averaging near 5% in data going back to 1928 for the S&P 500.”

UBS added that the U.S. sectors it views as most attractive are the technology, utilities and financial sectors.

— Lisa Kailai Han

November jobs report beats expectations

The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in November, marking a sharp rebound from the previous month. Economist polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 214,000 jobs for the month. Jobs growth for October was revised to 36,000 from 12,000.

The unemployment rate came in at 4.2% for November, as was expected.

— Fred Imbert

Source : cnbc