Daily Briefing · 2026-09-23

9 percent to close around 7081, marking its 4th consecutive trading day of gains, buoyed by Samsung Electronics' special dividend announcement and strength in semiconductor stocks. The OECD sharply raised its growth outlook for Korea this year from 2.6 percent to 3.7 percent, the largest upward revision among G20 countries. The US Federal Reserve signaled the possibility of further rate hikes, assessing inflation risks as greater than labor market weakness. The Bank of Korea also officially warned of expanding financial imbalance risks stemming from rising housing prices in the greater Seoul area and increasing household debt. In the Consumer Trends Survey, both the interest rate outlook index and the household debt index recorded all-time highs, and overdraft loan interest rates exceeded 5 percent annually. Bitcoin surpassed 8만7000 dollars, recording the best performance among major assets with a 47 percent return in the second half of the year. However, financial authorities uncovered and reported 4 cases of unfair virtual asset trading involving price manipulation through fake trading volume. In the real estate market, the newly appointed Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced plans to push forward with construction starts on 135만 households in the greater Seoul area and the introduction of a fast-track approval and permitting process. Meanwhile, Seoul apartment monthly rents surged 14 percent year-on-year, increasing the burden on tenants. Amid concerns that Samsung Electronics' third-quarter revenue will fall short of forecasts due to a sharp decline in the exchange rate and sluggish DRAM prices, the company also faced a mass shutdown incident caused by a software error in its smart refrigerators. In the shipbuilding industry, Samsung Heavy Industries became the first of the Big 3 to reach a wage agreement, but conflicts at Hanwha Ocean and others have dragged on, raising concerns of strikes after the holiday. Samsung C&T expanded its presence in the European market by participating in a project for 40 small modular reactors in Poland and the UK. Qualcomm unveiled its new Snapdragon 8 chipset, signaling upcoming competition with Apple and Samsung in premium mobile chips. Coupang's on-site investigation by the Fair Trade Commission resumed after the court rejected its request to halt the investigation. Meritz Securities was approved as Korea's ninth licensed issuer of promissory notes, a development expected to intensify competition in the short-term financing market. Financial authorities summoned the chairmen of 8 financial holding companies and strongly demanded transparent CEO selection processes free of factionalism and personal favoritism, and as a result, 54 subsidiary CEOs in the banking sector were replaced. The Hankyoreh warned that losses from leveraged investments related to AI and semiconductors could spread beyond individual investment firms to the global financial system as a whole. The cumulative number of births from January to July surpassed 17만, continuing an increase for 25 consecutive months. The government finalized a resource security plan to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern crude oil to below 50 percent by 2035. In US markets, IonQ surged 12 percent in pre-market trading on news of successful development of quantum error correction technology. The won-dollar exchange rate closed slightly higher at 1358원 40전.