"The stock market is being weighed down": Why 107 trillion is not enough to give it strength | Jang Woo-jin, Head of Geumsigong [Weekend Interview]

Jang Woo-jin, head of Geumsigong, says his concern is intensifying because prolonged high interest rates could suffocate the market and spill over into credit risk. He points out that even though oil prices have fallen from 100 dollars into the 90 dollar range, high yields in the 5.3% range on 10 year bonds and the 5.6% range on 30 year bonds persist, and the pattern of rising lows is not good. The overnight US 10 year bond auction, totaling 390 hundred-million dollars, appeared successful on the surface, with a winning yield of 5.3% and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.77 times. However, he interprets the narrowing gap between expected stock returns and bond yields as a possible sign of liquidity leaving equities. He believes discussion of an additional rate increase this year in the Fed minutes, next week's CPI, and rising inflation expectations will determine the direction. He says French yields rose again despite France's Le Pen pledging to reduce the fiscal deficit, revealing market distrust of politicians' promises. He warns that a credit crisis originating in Europe could lead from shocks to banks to loan recalls, reduced investment, and declines in earnings, employment, and consumption, and that hidden debt and SPC structures entangled with AI and software investment could become a time bomb. He explains that AI financing, including 400 hundred-million dollars in SpaceX bonds and Broadcom's 600 hundred-million dollars in support for Anthropic, is competing with government borrowing and pushing interest rates higher. Meanwhile, despite Samsung Electronics' quarterly operating profit in the 107 trillion won range, weakening expectations and foreign selling are keeping its share price from gaining strength. All directional outlooks are the speaker's conditional judgments, not definitive predictions of short-term prices.