The stock market faces a tentative week of recovery as bargain hunters return to beaten-down stocks and a US court ruling against tariffs lifts global sentiment.
Beneath the respite, however, lies a fragile market still hemmed in by inflation risks, uneven earnings and unsettled trade policy.
Online platform 2TradeAsia.com said the domestic inflation path “appears benign,” yet warned that “external risks remain at the forefront.”
It pointed to new US tariffs raising costs across supply chains, with the potential to “exacerbate unwelcome volatility.”
The Federal Reserve, it added, remains the “wildcard”: delayed easing could widen peso-dollar spreads and choke off capital inflows.
Even so, 2TradeAsia noted that the long-term story remains intact. Infrastructure and energy-transition plays are gathering pace, while lower borrowing costs are expected to feed into balance sheets and fuel capital spending by 2026.
“The path may be narrow, but it is moving forward,” it said.
Japhet Tantiangco of Philstocks Financial Inc. offered a sobering counterpoint. “The market is already on a three-week decline showing that bearish sentiment is currently in control,” he said.
With confidence eroded by uneven corporate results and fresh tariff threats, investors remain wary.
Still, Tantiangco pointed to valuations that have fallen to 10.8 times price-to-earnings — well below the five-year average of 17.3x and the regional average of 17.7x — suggesting room for bargains if sentiment improves.
