Global TradFi & Macroeconomics

Italy's trade surplus with the European Union reached 1.577 billion euros in June, up from 845 million euros in May, according to official trade data.

The South Korean government proposed a stock price suppression prevention law targeting companies with persistently low price-to-book ratios (PBR). Under the proposal, companies whose PBR falls in the bottom 25% (KOSPI) or 10% (KOSDAQ) for 12 out of the recent 13 half-years face enhanced taxation on

According to CBC News, Namsung reported Q2 earnings on August 5, with operating profit surging 720.4% year-over-year to 3.29 billion won and operating margin expanding to 15.2% from 2.1%. Consolidated revenue reached 21.617 billion won, up 15.5% YoY, while net profit swung to 3.084 billion won profi

AMD CEO Lisa Su confirmed on the August 4, 2026 earnings call that the company's server CPU supply chain remains tight due to stronger-than-expected first-half demand. AMD has continuously increased EPYC supply throughout 2026 and plans further shipment increases in the second half, with full supply

US Treasury Secretary Bessent attributed Japan's rising inflation to yen weakness and elevated energy prices driven by the Iran situation. The Bank of Japan forecasts inflation reaching 2.5% this year while maintaining its policy rate at 1.00%, a decision supported by an 8-1 vote at the July

Broadridge Financial Solutions, a New York-listed fintech, announced that its Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) platform processed over $8 trillion in July. The blockchain-based repo platform processed an average of $365 billion per day last month, representing a 28% increase year-over-year. The

SK Telecom reported Q2 operating profit of 566 billion won and revenue of 4.3591 trillion won, meeting market expectations. The South Korean telecom operator's AI data center (AI DC) business drove growth, with Q2 AI DC revenue reaching 136.2 billion won, a 92.5% increase year-over-year. CFO Park

According to Morgan Stanley, global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) demand is forecast to reach approximately 6.08 billion GB by 2027, with Nvidia commanding 36% of total consumption and Google surging to 35%, narrowing the gap significantly. Google's rapid expansion is driven by its growing TPU v8i, v8

Predictions of an imminent dollar collapse have repeatedly failed to materialize despite years of warnings. The persistence of dollar strength coexists with dollar strain and record stock market valuations as separate but interconnected phenomena. Global capital continues flowing into US assets,

Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Heo Jae-hwan observed clear signs of market breadth expansion in global equity markets recently. The S&P500 Equal Weight Index reached an all-time high this week, gaining 14.9% year-to-date and outpacing the standard S&P500's 13.5% return, while the Dow Jones a

USD/JPY has decoupled from its traditional correlation with US-Japan 10-year yield spreads since April 2025. The yen continues weakening despite the yield differential narrowing by 1.0 percentage point to approximately 2.0 percentage points, near its lowest level since 2021. Analysts attribute the d

According to BlackRock's head of digital assets Robbie Mitchnick on Bloomberg Television, the company has reduced the minimum threshold for redeeming iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) shares with physical Bitcoin from $25 million to $1 million. The mechanism allows authorized participants to exchange Bit

According to AMD CEO Lisa Su's earnings call on August 4, the server CPU supply chain remains tight despite the company's continuous efforts to increase EPYC shipments. Su confirmed that first-half demand exceeded AMD's expectations, creating supply constraints, but additional capacity is

According to Telegram, Aromatica released Q2 earnings on August 5 with revenue of 17.7 billion Korean won, up 38.3% year-over-year. Operating profit doubled to 2.2 billion won, while net profit also doubled to 1.8 billion won. Operating margin improved by 3.8 percentage points to 12.4% from 8.6% in

Market analysts expect US July consumer price index (CPI) data, scheduled for release on the 12th, to rebound from June's unexpected decline. Vanguard economist Adam Sickling stated the unusually large declines seen across multiple sectors in June will likely return to recent trend levels in July. S

Options market participants are positioning defensively as the S&P 500 trades at historical highs, with heavy Call selling emerging near the 7900 level and VIX holding at 16.39 despite index gains. Dealers face concentrated Gamma exposure in the 7500-7800 range, requiring increased hedging

Sam C&S, KG Financial, and YMC announced their Q2 2026 earnings results on August 5, 2026, with all three Korean stocks delivering revenue and profit growth that exceeded market expectations. Sam C&S reported the strongest performance among the three companies, with Q2 revenue of 31.3 billion

Korean stock markets KOSPI and KOSDAQ posted strong relief rallies on the morning of August 5, with KOSPI rising 3.74% to 6,596.62 points and KOSDAQ climbing 2.62% to 801.16 points as of 10:00 AM. The rally was triggered by an overnight surge in US stocks, particularly semiconductor shares, with the

According to Axios, the United States and Iran are finalizing an interim agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with an announcement expected tomorrow (August 12).

According to Yonhap Infomax, GS Group reported consolidated Q2 operating profit of 17.17 trillion won on August 11, a 253% increase year-over-year. The conglomerate's revenue reached 74.13 trillion won, up 24.93% from the same period last year. Both figures exceeded market expectations, which had fo