Four ships hit in the Strait of Hormuz…Wall Street ends mixed [Morning Briefing]

◆Four ships hit in the Strait of Hormuz

On local time June 11, the 12th day of the war between the United States and Israel and Iran, four vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz came under attack by Iranian forces. Since the outbreak of the war on May 28, the number of ships attacked in the area has risen to at least 15. Khatam al-Anbiya, the Central Military Headquarters that commands Iran’s forces, issued a statement on state television the same day, threatening that “any vessel belonging to the United States, Israel, or their allies, or carrying oil cargoes of those countries, will be regarded as a legitimate target.”

◆Wall Street ends mixed amid concerns over sustained high oil prices

On local time June 11, as the war entered its 12th day and concerns persisted that elevated oil prices could last, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.61% from the previous session. The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 declined 0.08%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.08%. Although major countries decided to release strategic petroleum reserves, ongoing concerns about supply disruptions added to market uncertainty. Brent crude futures settled at $91.98 a barrel, up 4.8% from the prior day.

◆National Assembly to pass special bill on U.S. investment at today’s plenary session

The National Assembly on June 12 held a plenary session to pass the “Special Act on the Management of Strategic Investment between Korea and the United States” (the special bill on U.S. investment). The bill passed, by bipartisan agreement, the National Assembly’s special committee on handling the legislation on June 9 and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee the day before. The act centers on establishing a separate Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation to implement a Korea-U.S. memorandum of understanding that includes plans to carry out $350 billion in investment in the United States. The plenary session is also set to receive a request for a parliamentary investigation into the “fact-finding on allegations of fabricated indictments by the political prosecution under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.” The Democratic Party of Korea’s task force for pursuing the probe submitted the request to the National Assembly’s bill office the previous day, targeting prosecutorial investigation and indictment processes in cases including the Daejang-dong development corruption allegations and the Ssangbangwool cash-transfer-to-North-Korea case.

◆Chilly commute…rain and snow in parts of Gangwon and Gyeongsang regions

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast rain or snow from June 12 through the afternoon of June 13 for the east coast and mountainous areas of Gangwon; the east coast and northeastern mountainous areas of North Gyeongsang Province; and Busan, Ulsan, and parts of inland eastern South Gyeongsang Province. Expected snowfall is 5–15 cm (20 cm or more in some areas) in Gangwon’s mountains; 1–3 cm (June 13) along the northern Gangwon east coast; around 1 cm along the central Gangwon east coast; 3–8 cm in Ulleungdo and Dokdo; and 1–5 cm in northeastern mountainous areas of North Gyeongsang Province. Morning lows are expected at -3°C to 5°C, with daytime highs of 7°C to 14°C. Fine dust levels are forecast to be “bad” in Seoul, Incheon, southern Gyeonggi, the Chungcheong region, Gwangju, and North Jeolla, and “moderate” elsewhere.

Choi Soo-jin, Hankyung.com reporter naive@hankyung.com