Global TradFi & Macroeconomics

According to US Central Command, Brent crude held near $84 on August 10 as the US rerouted 20 additional commercial vessels (55 total) away from the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting Iran's claim that negotiations were in their 'final stages.' The blockade, in place since April, remains intact

According to eDaily on August 10, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix' combined market capitalization share in South Korea's KOSPI index fell to 48.5% as of today, down from 60.5% on June 25, a 12-percentage-point decline over 1.5 months. Separately, other sectors including construction, machinery, and

According to CryptoQuant, Bitcoin's 30-day demand has turned positive near 25,000 BTC, reversing from deeply negative levels seen around June. BTC currently trades near $65,000 and faces resistance between $67,000 and $72,000, where recent buyers' cost basis and the 3-6 month cohort create

South Korean investors bought $609.12 million in US stocks during August 3-7, nearly matching June's monthly total of $632.95 million. The surge followed a 22.19% decline in the KOSPI index throughout July after the Korean stocks benchmark hit a record high of 9114.55 on June 22. Policy changes

Spot gold broke $4,360 per ounce today (August 10), gaining 0.45% intraday.

Commerzbank economist Dr. Vincent Stamer released a report on local time August 7 stating that war with Iran has stimulated energy prices and European inflation, placing significant pressure on bond markets and increasing rate hike expectations for the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central

According to Edaily, South Korean retail investors channeled $600 million to U.S. stock markets within one week this month, matching the total flows from June. The surge follows increased volatility in domestic markets alongside regulatory shifts including restrictions on single-stock leveraged

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority held talks with banks and other industry participants over potential rules for tokenized gold, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. The FCA also sought feedback on the use of tokenized gold as collateral in wholesale markets. The regulator

According to Commerzbank Economic Research, financial markets significantly repriced interest rate expectations on July 7 as Middle East tensions and rising energy prices intensified inflation concerns. OIS swap market data shows U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike expectations shifted from minus 2

According to Economist, on August 10, South Korea's stock markets rebounded after three trading days. The KOSDAQ index surged 6.97% to 854.47 points, while the KOSPI gained only 0.65% to 6299.66 points. Foreign investors shifted their focus from the KOSPI market to KOSDAQ, reversing previous

KOSDAQ surged 32.52% from July 31 to August 10 as institutional investors shifted focus from large semiconductor stocks like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to growth stocks across semiconductor materials, biotechnology, and robotics sectors. Institutional investors net purchased 1.5224 trillion

According to Bernstein on August 6, Datadog's Q2 revenue reached $1.121 billion, up 35.6% year-over-year, exceeding guidance by $46 million and marking the strongest growth since 2022. The company raised its full-year guidance significantly. Bernstein forecasts growth will moderate to 33% in

According to Odaily, SK Hynix employees are pushing to establish a new unified labor union, with approximately 4,000 workers (11.6% of total workforce) joining preparatory groups. The labor dispute centers on the company's plan to distribute performance bonuses in stock form. Market analysts warn t

Microsoft signed more than 10GW of data-center contracts worth roughly $300 billion this year, according to semiconductor news site SemiAnalysis. The analysis estimates that frontier AI companies can generate more than $100 billion in annual revenue per gigawatt, with SpaceX potentially

According to Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry, the country may face a grain storage capacity shortfall of 11 million tons this autumn due to ongoing export disruptions.

According to SemiAnalysis, Microsoft has signed over 10GW of data-center contracts worth roughly $300 billion year-to-date, positioning the company to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in AI inference revenue. AI inference—the process of running trained AI models to generate real-time

According to News1, on August 10, the USD/KRW exchange rate rebounded to close at 1418.4 won after dipping to 1407.3 won earlier in the day on weak U.S. employment data. The rate fell to its intraday low as the U.S. dollar weakened following July non-farm payroll data showing a loss of 23,000 jobs

According to The Fact, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix announced divergent shareholder return policies on the back of record Q2 2026 results driven by AI memory demand. Samsung disclosed a specific timeline for shareholder returns, boosting its stock price, while SK Hynix accelerated its shareholde

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, diagnosed that the US July employment report reveals a difficult economic situation. On the 9th local time, Zandi stated via X (formerly Twitter) following the July employment report release that there is no way to sugarcoat the data, noting employme

The Taiwan Machinery Association stated on August 10 that the machinery industry achieved $3.305 billion USD in exports during July, marking an 18.4% year-over-year increase. The association expressed concerns that geopolitical conflicts, including high-tech and rare earth controls, are impacting