News
Fed holds rates steady for first policy meeting of 2025
2025/01/30 18:00
The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in its first monetary policy meeting of the year, and the first since President Donald Trump's inauguration. Following a two-day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee announced on Wednesday, that it would maintain the rate at its current range of 4-point-2-5 percent to 4-point-5 percent. The decision marks a pause in the Fed's rate cutting cycle, which had seen three consecutive reductions in September, November and December last year. The Fed's cautious stance despite Trump's public calls for rate cuts,. suggests that it is waiting to assess the impact of the new administration's policies.
Fed holds rates steady for first policy meeting of 2025
2025/01/30 12:00
The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in its first monetary policy meeting of the year, and the first since President Donald Trump's inauguration. Following a two-day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee announced on Wednesday, that it would maintain the rate at its current range of 4-point-2-5 percent to 4-point-5 percent. The decision marks a pause in the Fed's rate cutting cycle, which had seen three consecutive reductions in September, November and December last year. The Fed's cautious stance despite Trump's public calls for rate cuts,. suggests that it is waiting to assess the impact of the new administration's policies.
U.S. tech stocks plunge over sudden popularity of low-cost Chinese AI app DeepSeek
2025/01/28 18:00
Global investors threw out U.S. tech stocks on Monday over worries that the low-cost Chinese AI startup DeepSeek would overtake the current AI frontrunners. In just a week after its launch of a free AI assistant, DeepSeek on Monday became the most downloaded free app in the U.S., overtaking ChatGPT. DeepSeek was founded in 2023 in Hangzhou city by 40-year-old information and electronic engineering graduate Liang Wenfeng. Following the sudden popularity of the Chinese app, the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed over 3% on Monday, and Nvidia lost over a sixth of its value. U.S. President Donald Trump called DeepSeek's strong showing a wake-up call for the tech sector.
U.S. tech stocks plunge over sudden popularity of low-cost Chinese AI app DeepSeek
2025/01/28 12:00
Global investors threw out U.S. tech stocks on Monday over worries that the low-cost Chinese AI startup DeepSeek would overtake the current AI frontrunners. In just a week after its launch of a free AI assistant, DeepSeek on Monday became the most downloaded free app in the U.S., overtaking ChatGPT. DeepSeek was founded in 2023 in Hangzhou city by 40-year-old information and electronic engineering graduate Liang Wenfeng. Following the sudden popularity of the Chinese app, the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed over 3% on Monday, and Nvidia lost over a sixth of its value. U.S. President Donald Trump called DeepSeek's strong showing a wake-up call for the tech sector.
STOCK
2025/01/24 20:00
2025. 1. 24. KOREAN STOCK MARKET KOSPI : 2,536.80 +21.31 +0.85% KOSDAQ : 728.74 +4.73 +0.65% KOSPI200 : 336.74 +2.24 +0.67% ASIAN STOCK MARKET NIKKEI225 : 39,931.98 -26.89 -0.07% HANG SENG : 20,066.19 +365.63 +1.86% SHANGHAI : 3,252.63 +22.46 +0.70% WALL STREET (JANUARY 23) DOW JONES : 44,565.07 +408.34 +0.92% NASDAQ : 20,053.68 +44.34 +0.22% S&P500 : 6,118.71 +32.34 +0.53% EXCHANGE RATE USD : 1,431.30 (-6.00) JPY : 922.02 (+3.97) CNY : 197.54 (+0.15) EUR : 1,496.42 (-0.02)
SK hynix, LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor report 2024 results; SK hynix achieve highest-ever performance
2025/01/23 20:00
On the corporate front. SK hynix staged a stellar performance last year on the back of strong demand for AI memory. Lee Eun-hee has more. SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, has announced that it recorded its highest-ever revenue and operating profit in 2024, driven by the strong demand for High Bandwidth Memory. The company said Thursday that its revenue surpassed 66 trillion Korean won or around 46 billion U.S. dollars, marking a 102-percent increase compared to the previous year. Operating profit turned positive, soaring to just over 16 billion U.S. dollars. Last year's fourth quarter also saw a record-high operating profit of over 6 billion dollars. SK hynix reported record revenue, surpassing 2022 by over 14 billion U.S. dollars, and its operating profit exceeded the 2018 peak. One expert says the first half of this year is expected to be very promising, noting Trump's AI initiative. "Given the new launch of Trump government, semi-conductor industry in general and HBM in particular, there are a lot of good materials to push SK hynix's stock price at the moment. So it is quite in the short-term based." Meanwhile, LG Electronics achieved record-high revenue in 2024, reaching approximately 61 billion U.S. dollars, a 6-point 6 percent increase compared to the previous year. This growth was driven by strong performance in its core home appliance business and expanding automotive electronics sector, which has seen nine years of consecutive growth. This marks the company's highest revenue in two years. However, both annual and quarterly operating profit declined, attributed to slower recovery in global consumer electronics demand and rising logistics costs. The company experienced an "earnings shock" in quarter four, with operating profit halving and falling more than 56-percent year-on-year to over 93 million U.S. dollars. On the same day, Hyundai Motor also released last year's revenue data, reporting over 175 trillion Korean won or more than 121 billion U.S. dollars, which is up 7-point-7 percent on year, but operating profit declined 5-point-9 percent to around 9-point-7 U.S. dollars. Hyundai Motor's revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024 rose nearly 12 percent compared to the same period last year, driven by strong sales of high-value models, including hybrid and Genesis vehicles which boosted the average selling price. However, quarter four operating profit fell 17-percent to almost 2 billion U.S. dollars, impacted by higher incentives, external uncertainties, and a sharp rise in exchange rates. A Hyundai official stated that despite these challenges, the company continues to grow, supported by strong North American sales and increasing hybrid model sales. Lee Eun-hee, Arirang News.
S. Korea's economy grows 2% y/y in 2024 amid weak consumption, construction sector
2025/01/23 20:00
The South Korean economy marked a two-percent annual growth last year, slightly below earlier projections. Lee Soo-jin reports. South Korea's economy only showed modest growth in 2024. That's according to data from the Bank of Korea released on Thursday which shows that the country's gross domestic product a key indicator of economic growth grew 2 percent on-year in 2024. This was lower than both the central bank's November forecast of 2-point-2 percent and the government's forecast of 2-point-1 percent. "After our November forecast, political uncertainty in the country grew, and economic sentiment weakened which then impacted private consumption. Construction investment also remained sluggish as orders remained weak." In 2024,.. private consumption rose 1-point-1 percent, which was lower than the 1-point-8 percent increase of the year before while construction investment entered into negative territory. But as exports saw a sharp rise, jumping to 6-point-9 percent from 3-point-9 percent in 2023, leading economic growth, while modest, to be higher than that of last year's 1-point-4 percent on solid exports, a rise after three straight years of decline. As for the fourth quarter, economic growth expanded only point-1 percent on-quarter,.. and was also lower than the central bank's forecast. The central bank mainly attributed this to smaller growth in private and public spending as well as negative growth in construction investment. This follows an on-quarter increase of 1-point-3 percent in the first quarter, negative growth of point-2 percent in the second, and point-1 percent in the third quarter. With last year's economic growth hovering below forecasts, there are rising concerns about South Korea's economic growth this year, fueled by factors such as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. "Korean economy has been dependent on international trade and export to the United States. Multinational enterprises have promised to build a factory in the United States to avoid tariffs but as long as they make use of some parts from China they are still subject to tariffs." The Bank of Korea on Monday lowered this year's GDP growth forecast to as low as 1-point-6 percent, and the government to 1-point-8 percent in its 2025 economy policy plans released early this month. Lee Soo-jin, Arirang News.
SK hynix, LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor report 2024 results; SK hynix achieve highest-ever performance
2025/01/23 17:00
On the corporate front. SK hynix staged a stellar performance last year on the back of strong demand for AI memory. Lee Eun-hee has more. SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, has announced that it recorded its highest-ever revenue and operating profit in 2024, driven by the strong demand for High Bandwidth Memory. The company said Thursday that its revenue surpassed 66 trillion Korean won or around 46 billion U.S. dollars, marking a 102-percent increase compared to the previous year. Operating profit turned positive, soaring to just over 16 billion U.S. dollars. Last year's fourth quarter also saw a record-high operating profit of over 6 billion dollars. SK hynix reported record revenue, surpassing 2022 by over 14 billion U.S. dollars, and its operating profit exceeded the 2018 peak. One expert says the first half of this year is expected to be very promising, noting Trump's AI initiative. "Given the new launch of Trump government, semi-conductor industry in general and HBM in particular, there are a lot of good materials to push SK hynix's stock price at the moment. So it is quite in the short-term based." Meanwhile, LG Electronics achieved record-high revenue in 2024, reaching approximately 61 billion U.S. dollars, a 6-point 6 percent increase compared to the previous year. This growth was driven by strong performance in its core home appliance business and expanding automotive electronics sector, which has seen nine years of consecutive growth. This marks the company's highest revenue in two years. However, both annual and quarterly operating profit declined, attributed to slower recovery in global consumer electronics demand and rising logistics costs. The company experienced an "earnings shock" in quarter four, with operating profit halving and falling more than 56-percent year-on-year to over 93 million U.S. dollars. On the same day, Hyundai Motor also released last year's revenue data, reporting over 175 trillion Korean won or more than 121 billion U.S. dollars, which is up 7-point-7 percent on year, but operating profit declined 5-point-9 percent to around 9-point-7 U.S. dollars. Hyundai Motor's revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024 rose nearly 12 percent compared to the same period last year, driven by strong sales of high-value models, including hybrid and Genesis vehicles which boosted the average selling price. However, quarter four operating profit fell 17-percent to almost 2 billion U.S. dollars, impacted by higher incentives, external uncertainties, and a sharp rise in exchange rates. A Hyundai official stated that despite these challenges, the company continues to grow, supported by strong North American sales and increasing hybrid model sales. Lee Eun-hee, Arirang News.
S. Korea's economy grows 2% y/y in 2024 amid weak consumption, construction sector
2025/01/23 17:00
In other news. The South Korean economy marked a two-percent annual growth last year slightly below earlier projections. Our correspondent Lee Soo-jin reports. South Korea's economy only showed modest growth in 2024. That's according to data from the Bank of Korea released on Thursday which shows that the country's gross domestic product a key indicator of economic growth grew 2 percent on-year in 2024. This was lower than both the central bank's November forecast of 2-point-2 percent and the government's forecast of 2-point-1 percent. "After our November forecast, political uncertainty in the country grew, and economic sentiment weakened which then impacted private consumption. Construction investment also remained sluggish as orders remained weak." In 2024,.. private consumption rose 1-point-1 percent, which was lower than the 1-point-8 percent increase of the year before while construction investment entered into negative territory. But as exports saw a sharp rise, jumping to 6-point-9 percent from 3-point-9 percent in 2023, leading economic growth, while modest, to be higher than that of last year's 1-point-4 percent on solid exports, a rise after three straight years of decline. As for the fourth quarter, economic growth expanded only point-1 percent on-quarter,.. and was also lower than the central bank's forecast. The central bank mainly attributed this to smaller growth in private and public spending as well as negative growth in construction investment. This follows an on-quarter increase of 1-point-3 percent in the first quarter, negative growth of point-2 percent in the second, and point-1 percent in the third quarter. With last year's economic growth hovering below forecasts, there are rising concerns about South Korea's economic growth this year, fueled by factors such as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. "Korean economy has been dependent on international trade and export to the United States. Multinational enterprises have promised to build a factory in the United States to avoid tariffs but as long as they make use of some parts from China they are still subject to tariffs." The Bank of Korea on Monday lowered this year's GDP growth forecast to as low as 1-point-6 percent, and the government to 1-point-8 percent in its 2025 economy policy plans released early this month. Lee Soo-jin, Arirang News.
SK hynix sees record-high performance in 2024 driven by HBM demand
2025/01/23 10:00
SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker has announced its highest-ever revenue and operating profit for 2024 driven by the strong demand for High Bandwidth Memory. The company said Thursday that its revenue surpassed 66 trillion Korean won or around 46 billion U.S. dollars, marking a 102-percent increase compared to the previous year. Operating profit turned positive, soaring to just over 16 billion U.S. dollars. Last year's fourth quarter also saw a record-high operating profit of over 6 billion dollars.
S. Korea's economy grows 2% y/y in 2024 amid political turmoil
2025/01/23 10:00
South Korea's economic growth in 2024 showed only modest growth. That's according to data from the Bank of Korea released on Thursday which showed that the country's GDP grew 2 percent on-year in 2024, lower than the central bank's November forecast of 2-point-2 percent. This comes as Korea's economy in the fourth quarter expanded only point-1 percent on-quarter, which the central bank attributed to weaker consumer sentiment and a more sluggish construction sector due to the brief imposition of martial law on December 3rd.
STOCK
2025/01/22 20:00
2025. 1. 22. KOREAN STOCK MARKET KOSPI : 2,547.06 ▲29.03 +1.15% KOSDAQ : 732.31 ▲6.24 +0.86% KOSPI200 : 338.76 ▲4.32 +1.29% ASIAN STOCK MARKET NIKKEI225 : 39,646.25 ▲618.27 +1.58% HANG SENG : 19,778.77 ▼327.78 -1.63% SHANGHAI : 3,213.62 ▼29.00 -0.89% WALL STREET (JANUARY 21) DOW JONES : 44,025.81 ▲537.98 +1.24% NASDAQ : 19,756.78 ▲126.58 +0.64% S&P500 : 6,049.24 ▲52.58 +0.88% EXCHANGE RATE USD : 1,437.60 (-1.90) JPY : 922.28 (-3.89) CNY : 197.30 (-0.45) EUR : 1,496.69 (+2.49)
Sono International intensifies management push at T’way Air
2025/01/22 17:00
Daemyung Sono Group's Sono International will bolster its participation in the management of T'way Air. Following a request from the group earlier this week demanding an overhaul of management and a capital increase for stable operations of the airline Sono International also requested access to the shareholder registry. The request included concerns over insufficient maintenance costs and personnel as well as the lack of reliability in terms of aviation safety.
STOCK
2025/01/21 20:00
2025. 1. 21. KOREAN STOCK MARKET KOSPI : 2,518.03 ▼2.02 -0.08% KOSDAQ : 726.07 ▼1.59 -0.22% KOSPI200 : 334.44 ▲0.50 +0.15% ASIAN STOCK MARKET NIKKEI225 : 39,027.98 ▲125.48 +0.32% HANG SENG : 20,106.55 ▲180.74 +0.91% SHANGHAI : 3,242.62 ▼1.76 -0.05% WALL STREET (JANUARY 20) DOW JONES : CLOSED NASDAQ : CLOSED S&P500 : CLOSED EXCHANGE RATE USD : 1,439.50 (-12.2) JPY : 926.17 (-3.96) CNY : 197.75 (-0.46) EUR : 1,494.20 (-1.92)
Exports for first 20 days of Jan. drop on fewer working days
2025/01/21 20:00
Korea's exports declined during the first 20 days of January. According to the Korea Customs Service on this Tuesday, the total value of exports during this period amounted to 31-point-6 billion U.S. dollars, down over five-percent on-year. Pundits are linking the performance to fewer working days and believe the overall monthly performance will remain sluggish amid the extended lunar new year holiday during the final week of this month. Prior to this month, exports expanded for 15 months in a row.
Producer prices up for 2nd month in Dec. amid weak Korean won
2025/01/21 17:00
Producer prices rose for the second month in a row in December amid the weakening Korean won. According to the Bank of Korea on this Tuesday the producer price index a barometer of barometer of inflation gained 0-point-3 percent on month in December. Agricultural livestock and fisheries goods saw the highest jump in prices last month soaring 2-point-8 percent on month. On year the producer price index climbed 1-point-7 percent last month.
Exports for first 20 days of Jan. drop on fewer working days
2025/01/21 17:00
Korea's exports declined during the first 20 days of January. According to the Korea Customs Service on this Tuesday the total value of exports during this period amounted to 31-point-6 billion U.S. dollars down over five percent on year. Pundits are linking the performance to fewer working days and believe the overall monthly performance will remain sluggish amid the extended lunar new year holiday during the final week of this month. Prior to this month exports expanded for 15 months in a row.
Melania Trump joins crypto craze
2025/01/21 10:00
In the U.S., on the eve of her husband's inauguration as President, Melania Trump introduced her own cryptocurrency, the $MELANIA meme coin. She posted on X on Sunday that "The Official Melania Meme is live." The announcement follows Donald Trump's launch of his own meme coin ahead of his inauguration. According to CoinMarketCap, Trump's meme coin has a total market value of about 12 billion US dollars, while Melania's meme coin stands at around 1.7 billion US dollars. Despite previously calling cryptocurrency a scam, Trump became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations during his 2024 election campaign.
Producer prices up for 2nd month in Dec. amid weak Korean won
2025/01/21 10:00
South Korea's producer prices rose for the second straight month in December, amid the weakening Korean won. According to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, the producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation rose zero-point-three percent in December from the month before. This follows a zero-point-one percent gain in November. On year, the index rose one-point-seven percent last month, increasing for the 17th straight month. Agricultural, livestock and fisheries goods saw the highest jump in prices last month, climbing two-point-eight percent from a month earlier.
STOCK
2025/01/20 20:00
2025. 1. 20. KOREAN STOCK MARKET KOSPI : 2,520.05 -3.50 (-0.14%) KOSDAQ : 727.66 +2.97 (+0.41%) KOSPI200 : 333.94 -1.15 (-0.34%) ASIAN STOCK MARKET NIKKEI225 : 38,902.50 +451.04 (+1.17%) HANG SENG : 19,925.81 +341.75 (+1.75%) SHANGHAI : 3,244.38 +2.56 (+0.08%) WALL STREET (JANUARY 17) DOW JONES : 43,487.83 +334.70 +0.78% NASDAQ : 19,630.20 +291.91 +1.51% S&P500 : 5,996.66 +59.32 +1.00% EXCHANGE RATE USD : 1,451.70 (-6.60) JPY : 930.13 (-6.81) CNY : 198.21 (-0.41) EUR : 1,496.12 (-4.03)