{"id":61229,"date":"2026-04-23T23:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/european-markets-retreat-as-geopolitical-risks-mount-south-korean-ex-leader-faces-30-year-sentence\/61229\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T23:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:38:32","slug":"european-markets-retreat-as-geopolitical-risks-mount-south-korean-ex-leader-faces-30-year-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/european-markets-retreat-as-geopolitical-risks-mount-south-korean-ex-leader-faces-30-year-sentence\/61229\/","title":{"rendered":"European Markets Retreat as Geopolitical Risks Mount; South Korean Ex-Leader Faces 30-Year Sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>European futures pointed sharply lower<\/strong> on Friday morning, with the <strong>EuroSTOXX 50 slipping 0.92%<\/strong> and the <strong>FTSE 100 declining over 1%<\/strong> as geopolitical instability weighed on investor sentiment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>South Korean prosecutors have requested a 30-year prison sentence<\/strong> for former President <strong>Yoon Suk Yeol<\/strong> over a 2024 drone incident that allegedly served as a pretext for a failed martial law declaration.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The U.S. military is reportedly preparing &quot;dual-use&quot; infrastructure targets<\/strong> in <strong>Iran<\/strong>, including energy facilities, as President <strong>Donald <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a><\/strong> warns of a return to combat operations if ceasefire talks collapse.<\/li>\n<li><strong>JPMorgan significantly raised its price target for Sandvik (<a href=\"\/stock\/SDVKY\">SDVKY<\/a>)<\/strong> to <strong>SEK 450<\/strong>, citing a robust mining outlook and market share gains in the <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold-price.aspx\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">gold<\/a> sector.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hyundai (<a href=\"\/stock\/HYMTF\">HYMTF<\/a>) CEO Jose Mu\u00f1oz reported strong progress<\/strong> in the company\u2019s China turnaround, unveiling a localized strategy aiming for <strong>500,000 annual units<\/strong> in the region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>European equity markets are bracing for a difficult opening session on Friday as a combination of escalating Middle Eastern tensions and a political crisis in East Asia dampens risk appetite. <strong>Futures for the EuroSTOXX 50 fell 0.92%<\/strong>, while the <strong>DAX dropped 0.5%<\/strong> and the <strong>FTSE 100 saw a steeper decline of 1%<\/strong>. <em>The downward pressure follows reports of hardening military stances in the U.S. and a major legal development involving South Korea\u2019s former leadership.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In East Asia, South Korean special counsel sought a <strong>30-year jail term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol<\/strong> on charges of general treason. Prosecutors allege that <strong>Yoon<\/strong> ordered a drone infiltration into <strong>Pyongyang<\/strong> in late 2024 to provoke <strong>North Korea<\/strong> and create a justification for his brief declaration of martial law in December of that year. <em>The trial has sent shockwaves through regional markets, raising concerns about long-term political stability in one of Asia&#39;s key economies.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Simultaneously, geopolitical risks in the Middle East have intensified following reports that the <strong>U.S. military is developing plans to strike Iranian infrastructure<\/strong>. According to sources familiar with the matter, the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> administration<\/strong> is considering &quot;dynamic targeting&quot; of energy facilities and dual-use assets if the current ceasefire expires without a permanent deal. <strong>President Trump<\/strong> has emphasized that the U.S. is <em>&quot;locked and loaded&quot;<\/em> to resume operations, specifically targeting <strong>Iran&#39;s<\/strong> capabilities in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the broader market gloom, several industrial and financial stocks received positive analyst revisions. <strong>JPMorgan (<a href=\"\/stock\/JPM\">JPM<\/a>)<\/strong> increased its price target for <strong>Sandvik (<a href=\"\/stock\/SDVKY\">SDVKY<\/a>)<\/strong> to <strong>SEK 450<\/strong> from <strong>SEK 370<\/strong>, maintaining an Overweight rating. The bank highlighted <strong>Sandvik&#39;s<\/strong> superior order momentum and its high exposure to gold mining as key drivers for the upgrade. Similarly, <strong>Truist<\/strong> lifted its target for <strong>Carlisle Companies (<a href=\"\/stock\/CSL\">CSL<\/a>)<\/strong> to <strong>$360<\/strong>, up from <strong>$340<\/strong>, reflecting confidence in the company&#39;s operational execution.<\/p>\n<p>In the financial sector, <strong>JPMorgan<\/strong> slightly adjusted its outlook for the <strong>London Stock Exchange Group (<a href=\"\/stock\/LSEG\">LN:LSEG<\/a>)<\/strong>, raising the price target to <strong>13,750p<\/strong> from <strong>13,700p<\/strong>. Meanwhile, <strong>Piper Sandler<\/strong> showed more aggressive optimism for <strong>Popular Inc (<a href=\"\/stock\/BPOP\">BPOP<\/a>)<\/strong>, boosting its target to <strong>$173<\/strong> from <strong>$156<\/strong>. <em>These upgrades suggest that while the macro environment remains volatile, analysts still see value in specific high-performing industrial and regional banking players.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Finally, <strong>Hyundai (<a href=\"\/stock\/HYMTF\">HYMTF<\/a>)<\/strong> is signaling a major strategic pivot as it attempts to reclaim market share in <strong>China<\/strong>. CEO <strong>Jose Mu\u00f1oz<\/strong> stated that the automaker has made &quot;strong progress&quot; in its turnaround over the last four years, shifting away from affordable internal combustion engines toward localized electric vehicles. At the <strong>Beijing Motor Show<\/strong>, <strong>Hyundai<\/strong> is debuting a China-specific <strong>IONIQ<\/strong> model, part of a broader plan to launch <strong>20 new models<\/strong> and double its annual sales in the country to <strong>500,000 units<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways European futures pointed sharply lower on Friday morning, with the EuroSTOXX 50 slipping 0.92% and the FTSE 100 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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