Global TradFi & Macroeconomics

Walmart and Target delivered sharply divergent earnings reactions this week. Walmart stock fell 8% on Thursday following its fiscal Q2 earnings report—its worst day in over four years—as investors focused on weaker U.S. sales momentum. Comparable sales grew just 2.6%, the slowest pace since 2020,

According to Tom Hayes, founder of Great Hill Capital, Berkshire Hathaway will fail to outperform the S&P 500 over the next decade, marking an end to the company's era of excess returns. Hayes stated that the conglomerate's size and future leadership transitions will make it increasingly difficult t

According to Korea Exchange, South Korea's KOSPI index fell 1.35% to 6,759.95 points on August 21, as U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rebounded to 4.7% following the Treasury Department's bond buyback announcement. The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield reached 5.33% on August 18, marking the highest level

Eugenio 'Gabby' Lopez III is implementing a P6-billion recapitalization plan to rescue ABS-CBN Corporation, which announced the initiative on August 10. The Philippine media company has accumulated P45.5 billion in losses between 2020 and 2025, erasing its entire cash surplus and leaving it with a P

According to Rappler, Eugenio 'Gabby' Lopez III sold his family's 25.68% stake in Lopez Inc. to tycoon Ramon S. Ang on August 10, 2026, to fund a P6 billion recapitalization plan for struggling media company ABS-CBN Corporation. The capital infusion includes P3.5 billion from investment firm I&C

South Korean stocks tied to inter-Korean economic cooperation surged this week following reports that US President Donald Trump is pursuing a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The Wall Street Journal reported on the 18th (local time) that Trump discussed the summit privately, with a

Bitcoin rebounded from approximately $64,000 to around $74,000 within three days in mid-August. The cryptocurrency fell to $64,100 on the 19th before rallying sharply following the US Treasury Department's announcement of expanded long-term bond buybacks. The three-day consecutive rise brought Bitco

According to its value enhancement plan announced on August 20, KCC will create a special dividend tied to Samsung C&T distributions, allowing it to redistribute at least 50% of the special dividend received from Samsung C&T to shareholders. The special dividend is calculated by subtracting a

According to ChainCatcher, citing 8 Market data, Bitcoin's market cap reached $1.5 trillion today (Aug 21), surpassing Meta's $1.39 trillion valuation and ranking 13th among global assets. Ethereum's market cap also climbed to $283.89 billion, overtaking Dell to rank 72nd

Major listed Korean REITs lost over 60% of their value in the past 2 years while the KOSPI index rose 2.6 times, according to Korea Exchange data. The decline was driven by a global commercial real estate market downturn and rising interest rates that increased borrowing costs. JR Global REIT's

According to 8 Market data on August 21, Bitcoin's market cap reached approximately $1.5 trillion, surpassing Meta's $1.39 trillion valuation and securing the 13th position among global assets. Ethereum's market cap also climbed to $283.89 billion, overtaking Dell to rank 72nd

According to Korea Exchange, the program trading order liquidity halting system (sidecar mechanism) triggered nearly 50 times on the KOSPI market as of August 21, 2026. The automatic circuit-breaker, designed to prevent market volatility during extreme fluctuations, has been activating with

According to industry reports, three listed companies filed for provisional disposition against the Korea Exchange on August 18-19 over newly accelerated market capitalization-based delisting criteria. Their legal representative, Law Firm Chambers, submitted a preliminary statement to the court on A

According to Jin10 Futures, as of 10:15 on August 21, the CFETS-NEX liquidity sentiment index reported 55, down 1 point from 08:45. The index measures liquidity stress on a 0–100 scale, with 50 as neutral and readings above 50 indicating tightening conditions. Large banks' index fell to 54,

According to shipping data, traffic of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz slowed compared to the previous day, holding at single-digit levels.

According to Walmart's Q2 earnings report released today, the retailer's stock plunged over 9% after reporting same-store sales growth of 2.6%, marking a six-year low despite revenue and adjusted earnings per share beating market expectations. Revenue reached $187.94 billion, topping the forecast of

BlocksBridge Consulting reported in its latest “Miner Weekly” newsletter that nine publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies spent $5.11 billion on capital expenditures for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) businesses during the first half of 2026, while directly reported AI/HPC revenue totaled only $341.2 million during the same period, resulting in a capital expenditure-to-revenue ratio of approximately 15:1. BlocksBridge’s Capital Expenditure Data According to BlocksBridge Consulting’s m

Japanese stocks declined at the opening on August 21 amid rising US long-term Treasury bond yields, with the Nikkei 225 falling 468.34 points (0.71%) to 65,748.45 as of 9:19 AM, according to Yonhap Infomax World Stock Index. The decline followed overnight weakness in US markets where Treasury yields

Foreign investors net sold over 1 trillion won in Korean government bonds this month, marking an unusual shift after months of heavy buying. The net selling reached 1.538 trillion won as of August 21, concentrated in short-term bonds with 2-3 year maturities. The selling pressure stems from