Vietnam Insight

U.S. stocks plunged amid escalating U.S.–China trade tensions. US stock futures climbed on Monday after President Donald Trump suggested he may scale back his threat to impose steep new tariffs on China, saying in a Truth Social post that trade relations with Beijing “will all be fine.” Vice President JD Vance echoed that message, adding the US is ready to negotiate if China is “willing to be reasonable.” The comments followed Friday’s sharp selloff, when Trump’s warning of a “massive” tariff hike triggered a broad market decline after Beijing announced new export controls on rare earths vital to semiconductor and electric vehicle production. The Dow dropped 1.9%, the S&P 500 slid 2.71%, and the Nasdaq plunged 3.56%, marking Wall Street’s worst session since April. Tech and chip stocks led losses, with Nvidia, AMD, and Tesla falling between 4.9% and 7.7%. Investors now await earnings results from major banks later this week, including from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.

Uptrend. The VNINDEX closed at 1,747.55 (up 31.08 points, +1.81%), with liquidity returning to below the 20-session average. The market had 177 gaining codes and 125 declining codes. The stock group contributing most strongly to the market's increase was VIC, VHM, VRE, while the stocks contributing to the market's decrease were TPB, VNM, VIX. Foreign investors continued their net selling streak of more than 459 billion VND.

Trading Strategy: Prioritize a holding strategy and limit new purchases during breakouts. In a positive scenario, if the VN-Index successfully tests and holds the 1,700 level, investors can consider increasing exposure during subsequent pullbacks to ride the upcoming uptrend. If the market retreats to around the 1,600 zone, clearer buying opportunities will emerge — investors may focus allocations on stocks with strong catalysts such as re-rating benefits, robust earnings growth, or valuations that remain lower than the broader market.