Morning News, March 5: Government holds regular meeting for February 2026

Macroeconomic News

• United States: Tariffs will increase to 15% this week and may return to previous levels in 5 months. At the same time, the US will impose separate tariffs on each country.
• United States: The February 2026 Services PMI (ISM) reached 56.1, up from January 2026 (53.8) and exceeding market expectations (53.5).
• Middle East Conflict: The IAEA has not detected any risk of radioactive leakage in Iran.
• The U.S. and Ecuadorian militaries launched joint operations on March 3 against designated terrorist organizations involved in drug trafficking.
• Vietnam: The Prime Minister emphasized the need to steadfastly pursue the goal of promoting growth of 10% or more, maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, and ensuring the major balances of the economy.
• Vietnam: CPI increased by nearly 3% year-on-year; supply and prices of basic goods remained stable. New FDI registered in the first two months of 2026 reached USD 3.54 billion, up 61.5% year-on-year, while actual FDI is estimated at USD 3.21 billion, up 8.8%.
• Vietnam: State budget revenue for the first two months reached 601,000 billion VND, equivalent to 23% of the estimate, an increase of 13% year-on-year. Total import and export turnover for the first two months reached 155 billion USD, an increase of 22.2% year-on-year. Public investment disbursement by the end of February 2026 reached over 55,000 billion VND.
• Vietnam: Credit outstanding as of February 26, 2026 reached 18.86 million billion VND, an increase of 1.4% compared to the end of 2025, an increase of 20.18% year-on-year. Credit for sectors with potential risks will be strictly controlled.

Market News

• VN-Index: fluctuated sharply during the session, at one point falling more than 2% before bottom-fishing demand returned, helping the index close up 5.13 points from the previous day at 1,818.27. Buying pressure during the session was quite strong, helping the index remain above the 50-day SMA. However, investors need to be cautious as the market remains volatile and there are no clear signs of a rebound after the recent sharp declines.
• US stock market: rose on March 4 as oil prices cooled after new developments in the US-Israel conflict with Iran, while concerns about weakening US economic growth also eased with the ADP report showing that the US private sector created more jobs than expected in February (63,000 jobs in February 2026 - the highest since July - exceeding the forecast of 50,000 jobs).
• The South Korean and Thai stock markets triggered circuit breakers during the March 4 trading session as the KOSPI and SET stock indices fell by more than 11% and 8%, respectively.
• ELC: The Chairman of the Board of Directors registered to purchase 300,000 ELC shares from March 10 to April 7 through negotiated and matched orders.
• HAG: Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors, registered to purchase 5 million HAG shares from March 9 to April 7 through matching orders.
• PGB: Targets pre-tax profit of VND 1,438 billion in 2026, an 87% increase compared to 2025 results and the highest level since PGBank began operations.
• Samsung: Four Vietnamese factories generated over VND 92 trillion in profit in 2025.

Source: BIDV Securities (BSC)