KOSPI closes up 0.30% at 5,550.30.
On the 23rd the KOSPI rose 16.53 points (0.30%) to close at 5,550.30. Its intraday low of 5,305.98 was down more than 4%. The KOSDAQ fell 12.41 points (1.62%) to 751.69, while SK hynix rose 4.42% and Samsung Electronics 0.47%. The KRW/USD rate was 1,324.6 won.
On the 23rd the Dow fell 652.82 points (1.23%) to close at 52,215.16. The S&P 500 fell 0.52% and the Nasdaq 0.21%. Brent crude closed at $116.72 a barrel, a six-month high.
The White House said on the 23rd that Russia and Ukraine agreed to stop fighting in Oleshky, Kherson Oblast. Melania Trump mediated, and humanitarian aid and civilian evacuation are being prepared. President Zelensky said working-level talks will be held in Abu Dhabi in early next month.
Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul High Court acquitted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on the 23rd on appeal in his Political Funds Act case. The first trial had imposed a 10 million won fine. The special counsel team said it will appeal to the Supreme Court.
Amadeus notified Korean Air of the breach at 10:44 pm on Oct. 20. Unauthorized access using account login credentials is suspected, and Korean Air said it has confirmed only that booking numbers were leaked.
Semafor reported that deaths from the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola exceed 4,600. It is the second deadliest outbreak since the 2014-16 epidemic. Nigeria confirmed its first case, and Kenya has nine.
On the 22nd (US time) the 10-year Treasury yield fell 19.3bp to 4.952%, its biggest one-day drop since March 10, 2023. The 30-year was 5.286% and the 2-year 4.635%. The Nasdaq fell 2.60% to 26,008.86 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 6.72%.
At the Oct. 23 audit, Rep. Kim Jung-jae said monthly rent exceeds 51% of transactions. Rep. Kim Eun-hye's claim about golf in Jeju drew a rebuttal from Rep. Mo Kyung-jong, and shouting broke out.
The National Assembly's finance and economy committee held its comprehensive audit on the morning of Oct. 23 covering the planning and budget ministry, the Bank of Korea and the Korea-US strategic investment corporation. Minister Park Hong-keun answered a question on fire service budget.
Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul High Court acquitted Mayor Oh in his Political Funds Act case on the 23rd. The first trial had imposed a 10 million won fine. The special counsel team said it will appeal to the Supreme Court.
On the 22nd (US time) the 10-year yield fell 19.3bp to 4.952%, its biggest one-day drop since March 10, 2023. The 30-year was 5.286% and the 2-year 4.635%.
On the 22nd the Nasdaq fell 2.60% to 26,008.86 and the S&P 500 fell 1.21% to 7,663.43, while the Dow rose 0.02% to 52,867.98. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 6.72%.
On the 23rd the 3-year yield fell 3.7bp to 3.803% and the 10-year fell 5.5bp to 4.097%. BOK Governor Shin Hyun-song agreed at the parliamentary audit that a return to the past ultra-low-rate era is difficult.
On the 23rd the KOSPI rose 16.53 points (0.30%) to 5,550.30. At 3:30 pm in the Seoul FX market the won closed at 1,324.6 per dollar, up 0.4 won from the previous daytime close.
On the 23rd the KOSPI rose 16.53 points (0.30%) to 5,550.30. Its intraday low of 5,305.98 was down more than 4%. SK hynix rose 4.42% and Samsung Electronics 0.47%.
On the 23rd the KOSDAQ fell 12.41 points (1.62%) to 751.69. The KRW/USD rate was 1,324.6 won, up 0.4 won from the previous session.
On the 23rd the Dow fell 652.82 points (1.23%) to 52,215.16, the S&P 500 fell 0.52% and the Nasdaq 0.21%. Brent closed at $116.72 a barrel, a six-month high.
Total revenues net of interest expense were $20.062 billion, up 9%. Diluted EPS rose 31% to $5.42 and billed business rose 8% to $454 billion. Full-year EPS guidance is $18.30-$18.60.
Bolt acquired Prana in a stock-exchange reverse merger. The private placement is $120 million upfront, with up to $60 million more via warrants. The investment is scheduled to close on Oct. 26.
Per Zacks, Lockheed Martin posted adjusted EPS of $7.97 and shares rose 7%. Blackstone ($1.32) rose 8.4%, P&G ($2.00) 5.6% and Comcast ($1.07) 3.4%.
Enact Intelligence emerged from stealth with a $30 million pre-seed. Redalpine, Notion Capital and Firstminute Capital participated, and funds go to team expansion, hardware development and R&D.
Coherence Neuro raised a $45 million Series A co-led by Founders Fund and the OpenAI Startup Fund. Funds go toward the first long-term human trial in glioblastoma, among other uses.
Numz AI raised 4 billion won in seed funding. Stonebridge Ventures, SBVA, KT Investment and Base Ventures made their first investments.
Finland's permitting authority told Google subsidiary Tuike Finland to suspend environmental-impact preparatory work at the Muhos and Kajaani sites until the assessment is complete. The investment is 13 billion euros.
Per SVT, Swedish government offices will block ChatGPT and Claude on work computers from Monday. Civil servants will use Microsoft Copilot, which has been reviewed and approved.
SK Hyper, SKT's AI data center unit, laid out a plan on Bloomberg TV for 15GW by 2035. The first 5GW phase needs about $350 billion, with phased operation starting in 2029.
The University of Seoul held a two-day forum at COEX with the Seoul city government and others. About 2,600 people attended online and offline, and UCLA professor Dennis Hong gave the keynote.
Amadeus notified Korean Air of the breach at 10:44 pm on Oct. 20. Unauthorized access using account login credentials is suspected, and Korean Air confirmed only that booking numbers leaked.
CVE-2026-91403 can be exploited remotely without authentication. The cause is exposure of private keys for eight intermediate CA certificates from India's eMudhra, and Oracle issued an out-of-cycle patch.
CVE-2026-111497 is a buffer overflow in the Brotli decoder. Node.js patched it on the 21st and a PoC appeared on the 22nd. Fixed versions are 26.12.1, 24.22.1 and 22.23.4 or later.
Microsoft said the China-linked Storm-0940 attacked using the ARTEX tool. In some targets it reportedly gained cloud admin-level privileges within three hours.
KT, SK Broadband and LG U+ posted notices on their websites under the KMCC corrective order. Fines are 14.12 million won for KT, 31.07 million won for SKB and 3.8 million won for LG U+.
Apple's first foldable iPhone Duo launched in Korea on the 23rd. SKT, KT and LG U+ began activations, and the first pre-order batches at KT and SKT sold out in one minute.
The White House said on the 23rd that Russia and Ukraine agreed to stop fighting in Oleshky, Kherson Oblast. Melania Trump mediated, and humanitarian aid and civilian evacuation are being prepared.
President Zelensky said working-level talks will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in early next month. Putin met US envoy Witkoff on the 21st and accepted the proposal to resume talks.
Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment said on a CSIS podcast that the chance of Trump and Kim Jong Un meeting at next month's APEC in Shenzhen is below 10%. He pointed to denuclearization as an obstacle.
Local media reported that US Ambassador Bozell hinted at follow-up measures against South Africa, which rejected Trump administration demands. The US barred entry to some South African officials last September.
Zelensky said on Oct. 22 that Russia fired three cluster-warhead ballistic missiles at Kyiv. Russia's defense ministry said it targeted drone assembly facilities. Zelensky claimed more than 170 attacks since the energy truce declaration.
Zelensky said Ukrainian forces have liberated more territory since autumn began than Russian forces took. A General Staff spokesperson denied Russia's claim of 1,800 sq km captured. ISW reported a net Ukrainian gain of 241 sq km since Sept. 1.
Trump said Musk restored Ukraine's Starlink access. Ukrainian authorities said an abrupt restriction occurred on Oct. 13. Trump said on Friday that neither he nor Musk was the cause.
JCS spokesperson Jang Do-young said no signs of North Korea deploying a new type of weapon have been observed. Kim Yo Jong said loudspeakers would be on standby at the border within days. North Korea said it would keep response measures on alert.
NASA compared the current El Nino with 1997-98 and 2015-16 using 35 years of satellite altimetry. In October 2026, sea levels in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific were above normal. NOAA's Oct. 8 outlook put the chance of a strong to very strong El Nino at 83%.
Kobe University researchers found a large magma reservoir beneath the Kikai caldera, site of a major eruption about 7,300 years ago. They also found evidence it is being refilled. The researchers said this does not mean a large eruption is imminent.
The MFDS unveiled a biotech deregulation plan at the Oct. 23 regulatory rationalization committee. Batches made before approval can be sold after approval if conditions such as GMP compliance are met. Currently they must be discarded.
Semafor reported that Bundibugyo-strain Ebola deaths exceed 4,600. It is the second deadliest outbreak since 2014-16. Nigeria confirmed its first case and Kenya has nine.
As of CDC's Oct. 22 count, US measles cases this year stand at 4,588, reported from 47 jurisdictions. There were 479 hospitalizations (10%) and 3 deaths.
The first ceremony, hosted by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, was held at COEX in Seoul on the 23rd. The related regulation took effect on the 20th. About 300 people, including Vice Minister Lee Ho-hyun, attended, and government awards rose from 8 last year to 12.
On the 22nd-23rd participants discussed responses to heavy rain, heat, heavy snow and cold waves, and the Daejeon regional weather office explained new services such as heavy-snow alert texts and wider black-ice warnings. The province plans to reflect the feedback in its measures.
Gwangju/Jeonnam and Busan/Ulsan/Gyeongnam are forecast 20-60mm over three days and Jeju 50-100mm, up to 150mm or more in mountain areas. Jeju is forecast 20-30mm per hour early Saturday and at night, with gusts of 20 m/s or more.
On the 22nd ICE Brent December futures rose $4.35 (4.0%) to $113.17 and WTI December rose $2.32 (2.39%) to $99.47. Brent's close is the highest since May 4.
The Houthis claimed four operations inside Saudi Arabia in 48 hours. Reuters reported Aramco ordered staff at its Dhahran headquarters to evacuate, and the US ordered non-essential personnel out.
On the 22nd COMEX December gold fell 2.2% to $4,060.40 an ounce. Spot gold was $4,041.39 at 3:05 am on the 23rd, the lowest since Aug. 3.
Per KOFIC's integrated network, it kept first place with 39,736 admissions the previous day. Cumulative admissions are 1,967,581 and cumulative sales exceed 20.2 billion won.
BabyMonster released its new digital single Deserve at 1 pm on the 23rd, about four months after Sugar Honey Ice Tea in June. Stages are scheduled on Show! Music Core on the 24th and Inkigayo on the 25th.
Wonju DB beat Suwon KT 102-95 on the 23rd. Albano had 26 points, 5 rebounds and 11 assists, and Hammonds 30 points and 6 rebounds. DB is 4-3, while KT is 3-5 after a fourth straight loss.
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