Daily Woody Economy | Weekly Review · Jun 22–26, 2026 — A record high and a circuit breaker in one week

WEEKLY REVIEW

Daily Woody Economy

A digital economy paper by editor Woody · the week in review and ahead

Jun 22 – Jun 26, 2026  |  Weekly Pilot #1

This Week at a Glance

In one week, the KOSPI booked both a record high and a circuit breaker. The index peaked at 9,114.55 on Monday and stopped trading at 8,411.21 on Friday — and over the same five days, Micron set a fresh quarterly revenue record. The price broke. The evidence that the value broke did not arrive.

The Global Read

Samsung and SK Hynix are the HBM backbone of the world's AI buildout. So when Korea's narrowest, most crowded rally snapped this week, it was less a local accident than a live stress test of the entire AI-memory trade — one every global investor in the theme was watching.

KOSPI · the week, day by day

Record high 9,114.55 → 8,411.21 · week ▼ 7.08% (vs Jun 19 close 9,052.42)

The Week in Markets

KOSPI

8,411.21 · week ▼ 7.08%vs Jun 19 close 9,052.42 · record high to a 5th circuit breaker of the year

KOSDAQ

851.37 (Fri close) · ▼ 4.10%slid with the large caps on Friday

USD/KRW

1,532.00 (Fri close)a 2-week high of 1,537 midweek; Fri intraday 1,549.80, likely intervention

WTI crude

~$74 (lowest since March) → Friday rebounda 60-day Iran oil license pushed it down; the Hormuz strike turned it back up

US 10Y

~4.5% (intraweek)aftershock of a hawkish FOMC

Gold

~$4,150 (intraweek)Goldman cut its year-end target to $4,900 from $5,400

Micron

record quarter, revenue ~$41.5B · ▲ ~15%reported after Wed June 24 close; Q4 guidance above $50B

Throughline

Throughline

The question the market seemed to ask this week was whether the semiconductor trade was over. Pull the five days together, and the answer points the other way. KOSPI fell 9.99% on Tuesday — its largest single-day point drop on record. Then Micron posted a record quarter — revenue near $41.5 billion, next-quarter guidance above $50 billion — confirming AI-memory demand is intact. The market rallied on that print Thursday, then broke again on Friday's flows. When demand holds and the price still craters, what broke was not the fundamentals. It was the structure of the price.

That structure had two names: concentration and the calendar. On Monday, SK Hynix passed Samsung Electronics to become Korea's most valuable company for the first time in 25 years and seven months. A market saying held that the day SK Hynix tops Samsung is the day the peak is in — and for this week, at least, the market moved as the saying predicted. Then two calendars collided. Foreign investors raced a June 30 half-year settlement deadline, while domestic pension money sold ahead of the National Pension Service's July return to normal rebalancing. On Black Tuesday, institutional selling actually outran foreign selling. Positioning and dates, not earnings, drove the week.

Friday's drone strike in the Strait of Hormuz runs on a different clock. Iran is not leaving the table; it is raising the price of the deal, and that variable prints on oil before it prints on equities. KOSPI's next scene is set for June 30. If foreign selling outlasts the half-year deadline, this week's crash was more than a flow event; if buyers return, the market begins closing the gap between price and value it tore open. Next week, the market has to prove what it said.

The Week's Top 5

1

A record high and a circuit breaker, in the same week

After a Monday record of 9,114.55, the KOSPI crashed 910.71 points (9.99%) on Tuesday — its largest point drop ever, and the steepest fall since the −12.06% of March 4, the first session of the Iran war. It whipsawed midweek, then dropped 5.81% on Friday, tripping a sidecar and then the year's fifth circuit breaker.

➤ One-Line Read: the cause was not demand. It was crowding, and a calendar.

DWE Nos. 267, 268, 270

2

The most-valuable-company crown changed hands again and again

SK Hynix overtook Samsung on Monday for the first time in 25 years and seven months. But Samsung reclaimed the top spot on Tuesday's rout as Hynix fell harder, held it Wednesday, then ceded it again on Thursday's Micron-driven surge. On down days Samsung led; on up days, Hynix.

➤ One-Line Read: even the throne was as volatile as the index that named it.

DWE No. 267 / Hankyung · Herald Economy · FN News

3

Micron's record quarter — revenue near $41.5B

The memory bellwether reported its largest quarter on record after the June 24 close, with fourth-quarter guidance above $50 billion. The stock jumped roughly 15%. It was the strongest single piece of evidence that AI-memory demand has not turned.

➤ One-Line Read: the loudest demand signal of the week arrived in the middle of the crash.

DWE No. 270 / CNBC

4

A drone strike in the Strait of Hormuz re-ignites oil risk

The Singapore-flagged Ever Lovely was hit in the strait (UKMTO Warning 074-26). UKMTO logged an "unknown projectile"; the attribution to Iran's IRGC rests on US officials and Iran. With talks still live, an oil-risk premium snapped back on.

➤ One-Line Read: Iran isn't walking away from the deal — it's raising its price.

DWE No. 270 / UKMTO · Reuters

5

Two rebalancing clocks — foreign half-year, and the NPS

Foreigners sold a net 15-trillion-plus won over five sessions, racing a June 30 half-year settlement under Korea's T+2 cycle. But on Black Tuesday, institutions sold even more — pension funds front-running the National Pension Service's July return to normal rebalancing.

➤ One-Line Read: two calendars, not the fundamentals, shook the week — which is why next week is the test.

DWE No. 270 / Meritz · IBK Securities · MoneyToday

The Week Ahead

◆The flow pivot — Jun 30 half-year & the NPS in July

Next week's biggest variable. Whether foreigners keep selling past the June 30 settlement decides the "fundamentals vs flows" question. At the same time, the National Pension Service ends its rebalancing pause and reverts to normal rules in July. Against a 20.8% target, its domestic-equity weight has swelled toward 30%; Shinyoung Securities estimates up to 74 trillion won of selling at KOSPI 9,000, with chips, defense and shipbuilders the likeliest targets. Daishin counters that the fear is overblown — selling spread over 20 sessions, with daily caps, rules out a "supply bomb."

◆What Hormuz does next

With the US-Iran roadmap still alive, Iran's next move and the path of oil are the fork. The variable shows up in crude before equities — a risk premium on any blockade signal, a fade if tensions cool.

◆Chip sentiment after Micron

A record quarter and strong guidance now flow into sentiment on Samsung and SK Hynix. Whether HBM momentum narrows this week's price-value gap is the thing to watch.

◆Early-July US data & the Fed path

With May PCE behind us, early-July US jobs data will re-test the September rate path after a hawkish FOMC. The 10-year near 4.5% is the starting line.

Daily Woody Economy · Weekly Review

Daily Woody Economy is published by editor Woody, who uses Anthropic's Claude AI as a tool for news research, analysis, and editing. Some analysis and beneath-the-headline reads include AI-assisted content; readers are encouraged to apply their own judgment and cross-verify.

Investment-related content on this page is for reference only and is neither a recommendation nor a forecast. All investment decisions are the reader's own responsibility.