Oil Prices Soar as Middle East Tensions Escalate
The Middle East is experiencing rising tensions as the United States signals large-scale military strikes targeting Iran and Yemen's Houthi rebels. This has led to a surge in international oil prices, with Brent crude surpassing $100 per barrel for the first time in about two months. As a result, renewable energy-related ETFs have seen significant gains, with PLUS Solar & ESS rising 20.65% over the past week.
The US government has also imposed forced-labor tariffs of 10 to 12.5% on 60 countries, including Korea, under Section 301 of the Trade Act. The Korean government plans to continue negotiations with the US to ensure that the combined tariff rate does not exceed 15%.
Meanwhile, AMD CEO Lisa Su announced that a final contract with Samsung Electronics for sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) is imminent. This will bring favorable winds to the global memory industry.