Goldman Sachs: AI trading influence surpasses oil prices, dominating global asset performance divergence

October 27 - Goldman Sachs' latest research shows that over the past three weeks, semiconductor stock exposure can explain about 54% of the performance difference among different asset classes, while oil price exposure explains only 2%. As the influence of AI trading continues to expand, tech stocks are becoming a key factor driving global market risk appetite and asset performance divergence.

Goldman Sachs points out that investor risk appetite has recently been highly synchronized with the relative performance of large tech stocks. Last week, concerns about AI investment returns, financing costs, and capital expenditures intensified, tech stocks and corporate bonds were sold off, and Goldman Sachs' risk appetite indicator fell to its lowest level since April 2025.

The South Korean stock market has become a typical case of AI trading affecting the market. Because semiconductor stocks carry a high weight in the KOSPI, changes in global AI investment expectations directly affect local market performance. On Tuesday of this week, the KOSPI closed up 3.1%, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rising 5.2% and 4.2%, respectively.

However, Goldman Sachs emphasizes that the 54% and 2% figures reflect statistical relationships within a specific time window and do not mean that AI factors will determine global market gains and losses over the long term. Although the semiconductor sector's influence has recently exceeded that of oil prices, the impact of high oil prices on inflation, monetary policy, and asset pricing still cannot be ignored.

As large tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are about to release earnings reports, the market will focus on whether AI demand can continue to grow and whether massive capital expenditures can be converted into actual profits.