Computex N1X·Stocks at records 6·3 election D-1·Iran reignites

On May 30 in Budapest, PSG drew Arsenal 1-1 then won 4-3 on penalties. Dembele converted his spot kick, and last taker Gabriel missed, sealing a second straight title for PSG.

On May 31 Israeli forces seized the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon. PM Netanyahu ordered operations expanded beyond the Litani River, calling it a dramatic policy shift; France strongly condemned the move.

After Iran downed a US MQ-1 Predator drone, US forces bombed Iranian radar, drone-control bases and ground stations. Iran retaliated, with Kuwait intercepting drones and missiles as tensions escalated.

In the May 31 first round, right-wing icon Espriella led leftist Cepeda 43.7% to 40.9%. Falling short of a majority forced a June 21 runoff, with US-Venezuela relations emerging as a key issue.

BTS unveiled its 2026 Festa schedule for its June 13 13th debut anniversary. Sold-out world-tour Arirang shows run June 12-13 at Busan Asiad Stadium—its first Busan stage since 2022.

After spiking to $4.55 on May 21 amid the Hormuz blockade, the US average gas price was $4.322 on June 1, holding above the $4 line for the first time in four years.

In Korea Real Estate Board data for May 2026, Seoul apartment jeonse prices rose 0.28% alongside sale prices, with Seongbuk-gu +0.51% and Songpa-gu +0.50% as demand in owner-occupier-preferred areas surged.

April US food-at-home prices rose 2.9% year-on-year, the biggest gain since August 2023. Beef roast +18%, coffee +20%, and fresh vegetables +11% added to the burden.

Per the Bank of Korea, household credit stood at ₩1,993.1T at end-March, up ₩14T from year-end—a record since 2002. A regulatory balloon effect drove non-bank lending up over ₩13T.

Per Apartment List, the May US median rent rose 0.5% to $1,379, up for a fourth straight month. As the summer moving season began, San Francisco jumped 6.3% year-on-year, the top gainer.

The RBI's MPC meets June 3-5, with Governor Malhotra announcing on the 5th. Despite gasoline and diesel up about ₹7.5/liter in May raising inflation concerns, a 5.25% hold is expected.

BI raised its policy rate 50bp to 5.25% at its May 19-20 meeting—its first 50bp hike since 2022—to defend a rupiah that fell to a record low amid Middle East war-driven global turmoil.

SARB raised its rate 25bp to 7.0% on May 28—its first hike since May 2023—passing 6-2. Middle East war-driven oil spike concerns and April inflation of 4% drove the move; the rand rebounded.

The IMF board approved the second review of the $20B program on May 21, disbursing $1B for a cumulative ~$15.8B. Reserve targets were again missed, but Milei's reforms were credited; the inflation forecast was raised to 30.4%.

Turkey's central bank held its policy rate at 37% while effectively keeping tightening in place. Middle East war-driven energy and food shocks delayed disinflation, pushing the lira to a record-low 45.5 per dollar.

The US BEA's April PCE price index, released May 28, rose 3.8% year-on-year, a roughly 23-month high. Core PCE rose to 3.3% from March's 3.2%. Monthly headline was 0.4%, with Middle East-driven energy prices leading the rise.

On inflation reacceleration and fiscal worries, the US 30-year yield rose to 5.02% on June 1, near a 19-year high. The 10-year rose to 4.47%. Markets abandoned hopes of a 2026 cut, with some pricing a year-end hike.

Markets price a 96-97% chance of a hold at the June 17 FOMC. Amid inflation reacceleration and surging yields, new Chair Kevin Warsh faces committee opposition despite his cut bias. 2026 rate-cut odds fell below 3%.

Stronger-than-expected Japanese Q1 GDP bolstered the case for a June BoJ hike. ING forecasts a total 50bp of hikes in 2026. The BoJ, which held in April, had raised its core inflation forecast to 2.8% from 1.9% on Middle East risk.

As Statistics Korea releases May CPI in early June, markets watch whether it enters the 3% range. April was 2.6% year-on-year, up from March's 2.2%. Middle East war-driven import-price spikes likely pushed May higher.

On June 1 all three US indices hit record highs. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% past 7600 for the first time, the Nasdaq +0.5%, and the Dow also gained. Nvidia jumped 5% on a new PC chip reveal, leading a tech rally.

On June 1 the Kospi crossed 8500 and 8600 then broke 8800, leaving it 200 points from 9000. LG group shares surged on news of a Jensen Huang-Koo Kwang-mo meeting, while Samsung and SK Hynix AI-chip rallies lifted the index.

On June 1 the Nikkei 225 rose 0.91% to close at 66,934, topping 67,000 for the first time. SoftBank Group surged 14% on AI-infrastructure enthusiasm, with Kioxia +10.1%, Murata +9%, and Tokyo Electron +1.2% leading gains.

Taiwan's TAIEX rose 1,097 points, or 2.5%, to close at 44,733. Semiconductors led by TSMC drove gains in electronics-tech and tech-services sectors, riding the global AI-chip rally.

On June 1 USD/KRW rose 0.59% to 1,516.44 per dollar as the won weakened. USD/JPY also rose 0.06% to 159.37. Won-weakening pressure persisted even as equities hit record highs.

On June 1, as Jensen Huang unveiled the MS co-developed Arm-based PC chip N1X at his Computex keynote, Arm surged 14.7%, ServiceNow 8.4%, IBM 8.1%, and HPE 5.8%. Intel, by contrast, fell over 3%.

On June 1 Samsung Electronics rose 9.6% intraday to ₩347,500 and closed up 10.1% at a record high. It is up 189% year-to-date, with Q1 operating profit ₩57.2T (7x year-on-year) and the No.1 automotive-memory share behind it.

As the memory-shortage rally steepened, Micron surged about 38% in a week, its best weekly gain since December 2008. A surge in AI HBM orders lifted quarterly profit 750% year-on-year, pushing its market cap past $840B.

On May 5 AMD beat estimates with Q1 revenue of $10.3B (+38% YoY) and data-center revenue of $5.8B (+57%), jumping over 16% after hours to $412.80. It guided Q2 revenue to $11.2B.

On May 6, as Nvidia announced a plan to invest up to $3.2B in Corning (3 factories, 3,000 jobs) to expand US optical-connectivity production, Corning surged over 18% intraday. Its optical revenue rose 36% year-on-year.

Jensen Huang announced it in his June 1 Computex keynote. The 88-core Vera CPU and Rubin GPU use TSMC 3nm, cutting inference token cost up to 10x versus Blackwell. AWS, Google, MS and Oracle will adopt it this year.

Nvidia unveiled the RTX Spark, also called N1X, with a 20-core Arm CPU, 128GB unified memory and a 6,144-CUDA-core Blackwell GPU. It launches this fall in MS, Dell, HP, Asus, Lenovo and MSI Windows laptops, challenging Apple's M5.

TSMC began high-volume 2nm (N2) production at its Kaohsiung Fab 22, the first large-scale use of GAA nanosheet transistors replacing FinFET. With 2026 capacity fully booked, Apple takes over half, with Qualcomm, MediaTek, AMD and Nvidia also secured.

CEO Lip-Bu Tan keynotes June 2 at 1:30 PM, showing the 52-core Nova Lake desktop, the handheld Arc G3, and the 288-core Clearwater Forest server chip. Over 90% of Nova Lake tiles, however, are made by TSMC on N2.

Unveiled May 28, the latest flagship ranks first on SWE-Bench Pro coding (69.2%) and OSWorld computer use, among others. Pricing held at $5 per million input tokens. It debuted as the IPO race with OpenAI heats up.

On May 28 Anthropic raised $65B in a Series H at a $965B post-money valuation, surpassing OpenAI's $852B. With a $47B annualized revenue run-rate, it also filed confidential IPO paperwork targeting an October listing.

On May 27 Devin maker Cognition raised over $1B co-led by Lux, General Catalyst and 8VC at a $26B valuation, more than doubling from September. Its annualized revenue was reported at $492M.

Bret Taylor's enterprise AI-agent startup Sierra announced a $950M Series E led by Tiger Global and Google GV, pushing its post-money valuation above $15B just months after its prior round.

On May 13 Anduril raised $5B led by Thrive Capital and a16z, roughly doubling its valuation to $61B. The same week, Daniel Ek-backed European firm Helsing was raising $1.2B at an $18B valuation.

Capital One agreed to buy corporate-card startup Brex for $5.15B, the largest bank acquisition of a fintech ever—at less than half its peak value—signaling a 2026 revival in fintech M&A.

On June 1, as Iran threatened to halt US talks and blockade Hormuz, oil surged over 7% and BTC fell about 3% in 24 hours to $71,300. Liquidations topped $500M over 24 hours.

On May 27 US spot BTC ETFs posted their largest daily net outflow since late January, with about $528M leaving BlackRock's IBIT alone. Middle East geopolitical risk and higher-for-longer rate expectations spurred risk aversion.

On May 26 the total stablecoin market cap hit a record $322.5B, surpassing the FX reserves of 95 countries including the UK and Canada. Tether's USDT (~$189.4B) and Circle's USDC (~$76.4B) split the market.

In May the tokenized real-world-asset market grew over 100% year-on-year to $34.5B. On May 8 BlackRock filed with the SEC for two products: a stablecoin reserve vehicle and an on-chain share class of a ~$7B money-market fund.

MiCA's grace period fully ends July 1; thereafter, providers serving EU clients without a license are unlawful. Violations carry fines up to €5M or 5% of annual revenue, and ESMA says it will reject token compliance.

Revolution Medicines' oral RAS inhibitor daraxonrasib extended median OS for previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer to 13.2 months versus chemotherapy's 6.6 in the RASolute 302 trial, presented at the May 31 ASCO plenary and published in NEJM.

KEYNOTE-522's final analysis showed a 7-year overall survival of 85.1% for the pembrolizumab combo in high-risk early triple-negative breast cancer, versus 77.2% for placebo (8pp gain). Follow-up was 93.8 months across 1,174 patients, presented at ASCO 2026.

On May 1 the FDA approved Arvinas and Pfizer's vepdegestrant for ESR1-mutated, ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer—the world's first approved protein-degrading PROTAC drug, based on the VERITAC-2 trial.

On May 17 the WHO declared the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda a PHEIC. Cases surged to 282 as of June 1, and with no approved vaccine or therapy, concern is spreading.

GRAIL's 35,878-participant PATHFINDER 2, presented at ASCO 2026, showed the Galleri multi-cancer early-detection blood test raised cancers found up to 6.5x over standard screening, with 60.3% positive predictive value and 71% of new cancers at stages 1-3.

Kane Parsons' horror Backrooms earned $81M domestic and $118M worldwide over May 29-31, beating Civil War's $25.5M for A24's biggest opening ever. Its budget was about $10M.

The zombie film Gunche, starring Jun Ji-hyun and Koo Kyo-hwan, topped 3M admissions on May 30, hitting break-even faster than any 2026 release. It drew 970,000 over May 29-31 to hold No.1 for a second weekend.

Drake's new single debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, his 14th No.1—passing Michael Jackson for the most among solo men. He charted 42 songs in a week, also beating Morgan Wallen's record of 37.

At the 79th Cannes (May 12-23), a jury led by president Park Chan-wook awarded the Palme d'Or to Cristian Mungiu's Fjord. Mungiu became the tenth director to win it twice.

BLACKPINK's EP Deadline, released February 27, sold 1,774,577 copies in its first week on Hanteo, a girl-group record. First-day sales of 1.46M were also a girl-group all-time high.

On May 16 Gucci artistic director Demna closed off all of New York's Times Square to unveil his 'Guccicore' collection. Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady attended, and BoF called it the most persuasive show.

New Chanel director Blazy staged his debut Cruise show at the Art Deco casino in Biarritz, the cradle of Coco Chanel's style. Nicole Kidman and Tilda Swinton attended, and he reimagined the 1926 little black dress.

On May 13 Dior director Anderson presented a 75-look first Cruise collection at LA's new LACMA Geffen Galleries. Starting from a 1949 Marlene Dietrich jacket, he staged film noir with vintage Cadillacs and fog.

On May 20 Nicolas Ghesquiere presented the Cruise collection in the ground-floor galleries of Manhattan's Frick Collection. He applied Keith Haring graffiti to bags and looks; LV becomes a major Frick cultural patron for three years.

Kering's Q1 revenue fell 6.2% to €3.57B, with Gucci down 14.3%. New CEO Luca de Meo announced 100 store closures in 2026 and is reviewing 100 more, about 40% concentrated in Asia.

Final early-voting turnout for May 29-30 was 23.5%, a record high for local elections since early voting began in 2014. Jeonbuk (35.1%) and Gwangju/Jeonnam (34.1%) led the Honam region, Daegu was lowest at 18.7%, and final turnout is forecast at 53-55%.

Three days before the vote on May 31, the parties concentrated firepower on Seoul and Jeonbuk battlegrounds. PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok courted voters in their 20s-30s while DP leader Jeong Cheong-rae toured Honam, sharpening a Lee-government referendum-vs-support contest.

In the top battleground Seoul mayoral race, an MBC poll showed Jeong Won-oh 41% to Oh Se-hoon 37% within the margin of error, while a Dong-A Ilbo poll had Jeong ahead by 13.2pp—wide variance making undecided voters the late wildcard.

After Iran declared a halt to talks on May 31, the US and Iran struck military targets near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. Trump said June 1 that talks were moving fast but that he didn't mind if they ended, shaking the truce.

The $70B immigration-enforcement funding Trump pushed missed its June 1 deadline. The cause was a Republican Senate revolt over an $1.8B anti-weaponization fund, with Tillis and McConnell refusing to take it up separately.

On the morning of June 1 ET, Brent traded at $96.42 per barrel, up slightly on the day and about $32 higher than a year ago. Amid volatility from ceasefire-extension reports, oil holds about 30% above pre-conflict levels.

OPEC+ announced a 188,000-bpd June output increase at its May 3 meeting—the first since the UAE's exit—with Saudi Arabia and Russia each taking 62,000 bpd. But with the Hormuz blockade choking Gulf exports, the increase is symbolic; the next meeting is June 7.

As of May 20, average gas prices topped $4/gallon in all 50 US states, up about 50% since the February Iran war. The June 1 AAA national average was $4.322, with California above $6, the nation's highest.

Data-center power consumption is set to approach 1,050 TWh in 2026, which as a country would rank fifth globally. US total power consumption also rises from 4,110 billion kWh in 2024 to over 4,260 billion kWh in 2026, with AI driving the increase.

On March 31 Constellation Energy announced about 1GW of nuclear uprates, $3.9B of capital investment over the next decade, and 5,650+ MW of long-term clean-energy contracts. It has secured 1,100+ MW of data-center contracts to meet AI power demand.

Meta began cutting about 10% of its workforce—8,000 people—in three waves starting May 20 and canceled 6,000 open roles. It is investing $115-135B in AI infrastructure this year and reassigning 7,000 to AI teams.

Trackers tally over 142,000 tech layoffs in 2026. With four hyperscalers—Amazon, MS, Alphabet and Meta—pledging about $700B in AI capex this year, even profitable firms are cutting staff.

Amazon trimmed over 30,000 corporate and tech staff—about 10%—in two rounds last October and this January. It cut 16,000 in January alone, citing about $200B in AI data-center investment and automation.

On May 18 Governor Hochul announced a deal between the MTA and the LIRR union coalition, ending a three-day strike. The first strike in over 30 years involved 3,500+ workers; the four-year deal includes raises up to 4.5% in the final year and a $3,000 bonus.

The US Labor Department's May jobs report is due June 5 at 8:30 AM ET. In April, nonfarm payrolls rose 115,000, above the 55,000 estimate, with unemployment holding at 4.3%.

Waymo deployed the Zeekr-built Ojai, its first dedicated robotaxi, in SF, LA and Phoenix and expanded coverage 27% to 1,400 square miles across 11 cities. It expands to San Diego, Las Vegas and Denver this summer.

Tesla's robotaxi operates 1,190 square miles across Austin, the Bay Area, Dallas and Houston, but its verified driverless fleet totals just 25. Its plan to expand to 7 cities in the first half has effectively been delayed.

BYD topped 160,000 overseas sales in May for the first time, up 80% year-on-year. Pure EVs reached 198,674 units, up 27% from the prior month, and total sales turned higher for the first time in nine months.

Pony AI's Q1 revenue rose 145% to RMB 236M, with robotaxi revenue up 395%. Its operating fleet topped 1,446 vehicles, and it raised its year-end target to 3,500+ across 20-plus cities.

Joby completed stage 4 of the FAA's 5-stage type certification, the furthest along among US eVTOLs. It demonstrated a 7-minute electric flight from JFK to Manhattan, with type certification expected by end-2026.

Claims that early-voting ballot-box seals were torn and CCTV covered spread on social media. The NEC rebutted that triple security—fingerprint, CCTV and patrols—applies, and that envelope counting is a standard, observed procedure.

Moss Tan, who pushed claims of Chinese interference in the last presidential election, entered Korea a day before early voting and reignited fraud conspiracies. Police requested a travel ban and opened a probe on defamation charges against Lee Jae-myung.

A map spread on X and TikTok claiming red dots were confirmed cases is merely HantavirusMap.com's tally of news and reports. The ECDC said there were 13 total as of May 26 and EU risk was very low.

A photo of PM Meloni in lingerie spread as real but was an AI-made deepfake. It was an image she herself released to warn about AI misuse, confirmed not to be a real photo.

Pro-Kremlin actors impersonated BBC, CNN and Liberation to spread claims of a French hantavirus surge. NewsGuard identified 10 fake reports in May; France's actual confirmed count was just one.