DP landslide·AI chip rally Iran war-powers vote·record highs

In the June 3 local elections, the Democratic Party swept 12 of 16 metropolitan mayor/governor races. The PPP held only Daegu and Gyeongbuk, losing Incheon, Gyeonggi and Busan.

At 91% counted on June 4, the DP's Jeong Won-o led PPP's Oh Se-hoon 48.93% to 48.34%, a 0.6-point gap. A ballot shortage in Songpa delayed the final call.

On June 3 World No. 1 Sabalenka lost to 25th seed Shnaider 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 in the French Open quarterfinals, squandering a 4-1 second-set lead amid 57 unforced errors.

Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals opened June 3 in San Antonio. The Knicks, in the Finals for the first time in 27 years, face Wembanyama's Spurs, who were favored by 4.5 points.

Ahead of the June 11 Mexico City kickoff, all 48 teams submitted final 26-player squads by June 1. Korea, with Son Heung-min, opens against Czechia in Guadalajara on June 11.

On June 3 the AAA national average gas price hit $4.261 a gallon. The Hormuz blockade sent crude soaring from $2.98 in late February, raising driver costs by nearly 50%.

Bank of Korea data show household credit reached a record 1,993.1tn won at end-March, up 14tn from year-end. A regulatory balloon effect lifted non-bank home loans by 10.6tn won.

Per April CPI, food-at-home rose 2.9% YoY and all food 3.2%. Beef roast jumped 18%, steak 16% and ground beef 14.5%, pushing up grocery-basket costs.

In the fourth week of May the national average pump price held at 2,011.1 won/liter, above 2,000 for over two months. The government froze the petroleum price ceiling at 1,934 won a 4th time.

Per the NY Fed's Q1 report, total US household debt hit a fresh record $18.8T. Card debt rose 5.9% YoY to $1.25T, with 4.8% of all debt delinquent as burdens pile up.

The RBI meets June 3-5 and announces June 5. Markets expect a 5.25% repo-rate hold, balancing Middle East oil-driven inflation risk against growth support, with the inflation outlook in focus.

On May 19-20 Bank Indonesia raised its policy rate 50bp to 5.25%, exceeding the 25bp expected and its first hike since April 2024, after the rupiah weakened to 17,700/dollar amid war-driven volatility.

On May 28 the SARB raised the repo rate 25bp to 7%, its first hike since 2023, with 4 of 6 MPC members in favor. Citing Middle East second-round risks, it sees 2026 inflation at 4.4%.

On May 21 the IMF board completed Argentina's 2nd EFF review, approving about $1bn. Cumulative disbursements reached $15.8bn (80% of $20bn) as the peso firmed, up 13% in real terms vs end-2025.

Brazil's central bank cut Selic 25bp to 14.5% but warned it could slow or halt easing if the Iran-US conflict drags on. It raised its 2026 inflation view to 4.6%; the real rate near 10.9% is the world's highest.

Statistics Korea's May CPI rose 3.1% YoY, the biggest gain since March 2024. Petroleum +24.2% and international airfares +33.5% led; core inflation hit 2.5%, a 2-year-3-month high, topping the 3.0% forecast.

The April PCE price index, released May 28 by the BEA, rose 3.8% YoY and core PCE 3.3%. On the month, headline rose 0.4% and core 0.2%, confirming sticky inflation in the Fed's preferred gauge.

CME FedWatch puts the June 17 FOMC hold odds in the 99% range, with rates seen at 3.50-3.75%. War-driven high oil and sticky inflation pushed back cuts; it is new chair Warsh's first meeting.

On May 28 the BOK held its base rate at 2.5% (2 of 7 dissenting for a hike). At the new governor's first meeting it raised its 2026 inflation view to 2.7%, and markets began pricing a July hike.

BOJ Governor Ueda reaffirmed the need for further hikes on June 3 (June 16 meeting), and the ECB is seen raising 0.25pt on June 11. With US May ADP private payrolls at 122k, the 10-year yield jumped above 4.45%.

On June 3 the S&P 500 fell 0.74%, ending nine straight gains, while the Nasdaq lost 0.89% and the Dow tumbled 620.72 points (-1.21%). US-Iran tension and rising oil and yields weighed.

The prior session, June 2, the S&P 500 rose 0.13% to 7,609.78, topping 7,600 for the first time, while the Nasdaq closed at 27,093.90 and the Dow at 51,307.79 — all-time highs across the board.

Korean markets were closed June 3 for the local elections. In the prior session on June 2 the Kospi rose 13.11 points (+0.15%) to a record 8,801.49, topping 8,900 intraday for the first time.

On June 3 Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.5% to a record 68,401.91, topping 68,000 for the first time, while Taiwan's TAIEX rose 1.98% to 46,459.16, a 4th straight record. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.62%.

The won/dollar rate climbed to as much as 1,531.97 intraday on June 3, holding above 1,530. The yen weakened to 159.85/dollar, nearing the 160 level that has drawn past intervention, as yen pressure built.

Marvell Technology surged 32.5% on June 2 after Jensen Huang's Computex remarks, its biggest one-day gain, adding $60bn in market cap in a day. Nvidia pledged a $2bn investment in Marvell.

On June 3 Broadcom reported Q2 revenue of $22.2bn (+48% YoY), with AI chip revenue surging 143% to $10.8bn. Its May 31 close of $446.77 was a record, taking its market cap past $2.1T.

Micron crossed $1,000 a share on June 1 at $1,035.68. It jumped 19% after UBS raised its target from $535 to $1,625; with 2026 HBM capacity sold out, hopes for a memory supercycle grew.

SK Hynix surged more than 11% intraday on May 27 to cross a $1T market cap for the first time, closing up 9.21%. Up about 250% YTD, its 2026 HBM output is already sold out to MS, Google and Nvidia.

Intel surged 13% to a record high on May 5 on reports of chip cooperation with Apple. On surging server-CPU demand and turnaround hopes it is up 239% YTD and 495% over 52 weeks, raising CPU prices 10-15%.

At Computex 2026 Jensen Huang unveiled RTX Spark, pairing a 20-core Arm CPU with a Blackwell GPU and 128GB unified memory. Recasting Windows as an agentic AI OS, some 30 notebooks from Dell, HP and MS ship this fall.

Nvidia announced full production of its Vera Rubin platform, pairing an 88-core Vera CPU with Rubin GPUs. Built on TSMC 3nm with Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron HBM4, it lifts agentic throughput 10x.

At its Build conference Microsoft announced seven in-house AI models, including MAI-Code-1-Flash and MAI-Thinking-1. Mustafa Suleyman said they improve cost efficiency 10x over GPT-5.5 to reduce OpenAI reliance.

At Computex 2026 CEO Lisa Su unveiled the Ryzen AI Max Pro 400 series, the first to run a 300-billion-parameter model locally on a PC, an on-device push aimed at cloud-cost burdens and data-privacy concerns.

Apple unveils its OS 27 updates, including iOS 27, at the June 8 WWDC 2026 keynote. A new Apple Intelligence-based Siri, delayed twice, is the centerpiece, alongside AI features in Wallet, Safari and Shortcuts.

On May 28 Anthropic closed a $65bn Series H at a $965bn valuation, surpassing OpenAI as the most valuable AI startup, nearly tripling from $380bn in February.

On June 1 Anthropic confidentially filed a draft Form S-1 with the SEC, kicking off a roughly $1tn-valuation listing. Its May revenue run-rate was about $47bn, up more than 4x in a year.

On May 27 Devin maker Cognition raised over $1bn at $25bn pre-money ($26bn post). Up from $10.2bn in September, an 8-month jump, with ARR reaching $492m.

On June 3 AI music startup Suno raised $400m at a $5.4bn valuation, led by Bond Capital. That is more than double its $2.45bn from last November, with ARR reaching $300m.

On May 13 Anduril closed a $5bn Series H at a $61bn valuation, led by Thrive and a16z. Doubling from $30.5bn in under a year, it led the defense-tech funding boom.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs bled $2.8bn over nine straight sessions from May 15-29, the longest streak since their January 2024 launch, as BTC fell from $80K to $73K over the period.

On May 26 one investor sold $1.29bn of BlackRock's IBIT in a single dark-pool block, and on May 27 IBIT posted a $528m net outflow, the second-largest daily outflow on record.

With the MiCA transition ending July 1, unlicensed CASPs must stop serving EU clients. France's AMF flagged 90 unlicensed firms and warned of up to 2 years jail and €30,000 fines for unlicensed operations.

As of May 26 total stablecoin market cap hit a record $322bn, exceeding the FX reserves of 95 nations. USDC, at about $78bn, kept growing faster than USDT.

Per Bernstein, the real-world-asset tokenization market grew 42% this year to $51bn, with private credit about 44% of the total and Figure the largest platform at $18bn.

In the RASolute 302 phase 3, daraxonrasib lifted median survival in pretreated metastatic pancreatic cancer to 13.2 months (chemo 6.7), cutting death risk 60%. Presented at ASCO June 1, published simultaneously in NEJM.

In HARMONi-6, ivonescimab combo lifted first-line squamous NSCLC survival to 27.89 months vs tislelizumab's 23.69, cutting death risk 34% (HR 0.66). It is the first China-developed drug picked for an ASCO plenary.

In SARC041, abemaciclib achieved progression-free survival of 9.7 months (placebo 1.5) in advanced dedifferentiated liposarcoma, cutting progression/death risk 62% — the first positive phase 3 in this rare sarcoma.

In the 142,942-person NHS-Galleri trial, stage-IV diagnoses fell 9%, 22% and 26% across three screening rounds, with stage-I/II diagnoses up 16% — the first randomized controlled trial of multi-cancer early detection.

On May 17 the WHO declared the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak a PHEIC. On June 1 CEPI urgently accelerated three vaccine programs with $50m to Moderna, $8.6m to Oxford and $3.2m to IAVI.

Yeon Sang-ho's zombie action 'Colony' held No.1 over May 29-31 with 6.7bn won and 970,000 admissions. Since its May 21 release it has drawn 3.47m viewers and a 56.67% share over 11 straight days at the top.

Directed by 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, 'Backrooms' crossed $100m domestic in six days, A24's first $100m film. Its $81m domestic and $118m global opening set an A24 record.

Lisa will join Katy Perry and Future at the June 12 World Cup opening at LA's SoFi Stadium. She is the first female K-pop group member to do so, a second K-pop opener after Jungkook in 2022.

BOYNEXTDOOR releases its first full album 'HOME' at 6pm on June 8. A self-produced album with all six members credited as lyricists across nine tracks, including title 'VIRAL', it captures youthful growth.

Netflix opens with the 10-part webtoon adaptation 'Lesson' on June 5, then 'Action Hero' on June 19 and Choi Min-sik's 'Records from the Back Row' on June 26 — billed as the year's strongest K-drama month.

Demna showed Gucci Cruise 2027 in New York's Times Square on May 16. Honoring the site of its 1953 first store, the Cindy Crawford- and Paris Hilton-fronted 'Guccicore' was praised as his most persuasive collection.

Anderson showed his first Dior Cruise at LACMA's David Geffen Galleries. Inspired by Hitchcock's 'Stage Fright' and Marlene Dietrich's costumes, he reworked the Bar jacket; Sabrina Carpenter sat front row.

Blazy showed his first Chanel Cruise at Biarritz's Casino Municipal on April 28, the city where Coco Chanel opened her first couture house in 1915, reworking the 1926 black dress with mermaid motifs and fish-scale paillettes.

On May 20 Nicolas Ghesquière showed Louis Vuitton Cruise 2027 at New York's Frick Collection. The opening model carried a 100-year-old leather trunk Keith Haring scrawled on in 1980; LV began a 3-year museum patronage.

Kering's Q1 2026 revenue fell 6.2% as reported to €3.57bn, with Gucci down 14% to €1.35bn. LVMH's Q1 revenue also fell 5.9% to €19.12bn, as the Middle East conflict weighed on growth.

By the June 4 count the Democratic Party took 12 of 16 metropolitan posts, flipping local power; the PPP held only Daegu and Gyeongbuk. Turnout hit 61.0%, the highest for a local election since 1995.

At 12:47am June 4, with 41.38% counted, the DP's Choo Mi-ae secured victory at 55.02%. A six-term lawmaker and former justice minister, she became the first female metro governor and a ruling-bloc presidential contender.

At 6:30am June 4, with 91.36% counted, Jeong Won-o led Oh Se-hoon 48.93% to 48.34%, a 0.6-point race. In Busan, Jeon Jae-soo led incumbent Park Heong-joon by 4.27 points, shaking a conservative bastion.

On June 3 the US House passed, 215-208, its first war-powers resolution demanding an end to hostilities with Iran, with four Republicans joining — the sharpest rebuke of Trump's Iran policy since the Feb 28 outbreak.

On June 2 Trump said a Strait of Hormuz reopening and ceasefire extension could come within a week. Iran signaled it may halt talks, calling Israel's Lebanon offensive a truce violation, prolonging the impasse.

On June 3 Brent rose a third straight session toward $98 a barrel and WTI topped $95. With US crude inventories down six straight weeks and mixed US-Iran peace signals, volatility widened.

Since the Feb 28 US-Israeli strikes and Khamenei's death, Iran has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, cutting traffic over 90%. Some 150 tankers are stranded on a route carrying 25% of seaborne oil and 20% of LNG.

Per AAA, the US average gas price spiked to a wartime high of $4.39 a gallon, up 47% from $2.98 pre-war. That adds about $447 per household, with cumulative consumer costs reaching $60bn.

After seven producers agreed on May 3 to add 188,000 bpd in June, OPEC+ holds its 41st ministerial meeting June 7. Amid the Iran war, whether to continue or pause output hikes and judge market balance is the key issue.

The IEA projects data-center power demand roughly doubling to about 945 TWh by 2030. Big Tech has locked in 13 nuclear deals totaling 9.8GW, with Meta signing up to 6.6GW of 20-year deals with Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo.

On May 20 Meta laid off about 10% of staff, 8,000 people, and canceled 6,000 open roles. Zuckerberg cited funding for $115-135bn of 2026 AI infrastructure and signaled more cuts ahead.

Amazon cut about 30,000 roles, roughly 10% of corporate and tech staff, through restructuring from Jan 26 to late May. It simultaneously plans to hire 11,000 AI/AWS developers in 2026, accelerating a workforce reshuffle.

Per trackers, 2026 tech layoffs totaled about 142,000 through late May. Profitable firms like Amazon, Meta and MS cut jobs to fund roughly $700bn of AI data-center investment.

The Labor Department releases the May jobs report at 8:30am June 5. April nonfarm payrolls slowed to 115,000 and unemployment was 4.3%. Initial jobless claims for the week of May 23 were 215,000, staying low.

Stanford's Brynjolfsson team found employment for 22-25-year-olds in AI-exposed roles like customer service, accounting and software fell up to 16% vs 2022 with no rebound, while Ford and Nvidia hired more skilled trades.

On June 3 Tesla expanded its driverless robotaxi across the entire Austin metro, including I-35 and the Pflugerville and Manor areas. Still, only 39 vehicles are validated and 28 operate in Austin, keeping scale limited.

On May 28 Waymo opened its Zeekr-built Ojai vehicle to some users for free rides. With fewer cameras and sensors to cut manufacturing cost, it targets thousands of vehicles and 1 million weekly rides by year-end.

BYD sold 376,990 passenger vehicles in May, up 19.4% from April. It broke an eight-month run of year-on-year declines, with Fang Cheng Bao topping 30,000 units to drive premium-lineup growth.

Per ACEA data, Tesla's May registrations in the EU and UK fell 49% YoY to 14,210, the worst since 2019. BYD overtook Tesla for the third time this year, widening the market-share gap.

In June Joby ran point-to-point eVTOL demo flights in NYC from JFK to a downtown skyport and a Midtown heliport. Part of a White House eVTOL integration pilot, it targets passenger service in the second half.

On May 30 a user livestreamed for over eight hours outside the Jongno election office claiming officials 'opened ballot boxes to insert spare votes.' The NEC said party-nominated members handle the routine return-envelope count.

Amid claims that 'Chinese nationals transport and rig ballots,' early voting in the June 3 elections hit 23.51%, up 2.89 points from four years ago and a record for a local election, showing the conspiracy did not sway voters.

An AI-generated photo of an escaped Daejeon O-World wolf roaming a road spread, shifting police and fire search areas and triggering an emergency alert. The 40-something spreader, who said he 'made it for fun with ChatGPT,' was arrested.

NEC deepfake takedown requests reached 10,319 by May 27, 98.2% of the last presidential election's total (10,510). With 921 people caught making or spreading deepfake/AI disinformation this year, the government moved to real-time removal.

A hantavirus map circulating on X and TikTok, with red dots claimed to be confirmed cases, is merely a tally of news and tips, not actual cases. The ECDC keeps the EU risk 'very low' and called the map fake.