Vietnam Insight

Expectations of a Fed rate cut. US stock futures held steady on Thursday as investors reacted to mixed results from Big Tech firms, while digesting the latest Federal Reserve interest rate decision and awaiting the highly anticipated Trump-Xi meeting. In extended trading, Alphabet surged nearly 7% on stronger-than-expected results. On the trade front, Presidents Trump and Xi are expected to formalize a trade truce in South Korea after months of tension. The Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by 25 bps to a target range of 3.75%–4.00% at its October 2025 meeting, in line with market expectations. The move followed a similar cut in September, bringing borrowing costs to their lowest level since 2022. Policymakers cited increasing downside risks to employment in recent months while inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated.

Technical rebound – consolidation phase. VNINDEX closed at 1,685.83 (+5.33 points, +0.32%) with liquidity lower than the 20-session average. The market had 246 advancing codes and 88 declining codes. The stock groups contributing most significantly to the market's increase were VCB, BID, HDB; those contributing to the market's decrease were VIC, VHM, and VRE. Foreign investors net sold 1,491 billion VND.

Trading Strategy: Investors may consider short-term trades within the 1,600–1,700 range. If the market successfully retests the 1,600 level, investors can also deploy capital for medium- to long-term positions, focusing on stocks with strong momentum — such as those benefiting from an upgrade in market classification, robust earnings growth, or valuations that remain lower than the overall market average.