The Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has announced on Feb. 5 that it achieved a double-digit rate of return last year, with total assets under management increasing by over US$20 billion (26.71 trillion won).The KIC revealed on the same day that the annual rate of return for the year 2023, denomin
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com -- Ed.While Secretary Yellen's key goal in 2023 was to secure TGA cash despite a massive fiscal deficit, the one for 2024 is to be improving the fiscal balance by using the tax revenue surplus. This implie
Cho Dong-chul, the president of Korea Development Institute (KDI), publicly issued a stark warning on government debt, going so far as to state, “The country will collapse.” In particular, he cautioned that South Korea’s national debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio could skyrocket to over 250
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at bk@nhqv.com -- Ed.The two terms that defined last year’s stock market were ‘new cold war’ and ‘supply chain reshaping’. In 2024, decoupling between DMs and EMs is to become a new market-defining feature. Today, the US’s bu
As of November last year, the National Pension Fund’s (NPS) rate of return approached double digits. Despite concerns about a global economic downturn, the strength of the stock market resulted in the evaluation of the fund’s assets surging to nearly 1 quadrillion won.The NPS Investment Management d
SK hynix Inc. announced today that it recorded an operating profit of 346 billion won (US$259 million) in the fourth quarter of last year amid a recovery of the memory chip market, marking the first quarter of profit following four straight quarters of losses.The company posted revenues of 11.31 tri
Dankook University announced on Jan. 22 that a research team led by Professor Han Kwan-young has developed the world’s first equipment capable of rapidly measuring defects on the surfaces of nano films applied to mobile phones and various display surfaces.According to Dankook University, the researc
SK hynix has successfully issued a US$1.5 billion dollar-denominated bond.According to foreign reports on Jan. 9, SK hynix conducted demand forecasts for dollar bonds in Asia, Europe, and the United States the previous day and confirmed the issuance of a US$1.5 billion bond. The issued dollar bonds
Hanwha Aerospace will borrow 400 billion won (US$304 million) and pay off all of its debts with the funds. Analysts say that the company will feel the burden of investing 1.3 trillion won to acquire Hanwha Ocean in 2023 more acutely.Hanwha Aerospace announced on Jan. 5 that it has finalized the issu
The government’s new entrusted operating funds for the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), the sovereign wealth fund, have effectively ceased from 2022 until last year. Some argue that the KIC faces concerns about its international competitiveness. In a landscape where competing sovereign wealth fun
More than four out of 10 listed companies in Korea were unable to pay interest with money they made, according to a recent survey. High interest rates and stagflation worsened the business environment, raising red flags on their financial conditions.As of the third quarter of 2023, 710 of 1,674 list
Hanwha Aerospace, which embarked on its first corporate bond issuance of the new year, has successfully secured orders surpassing seven times the fundraising amount. This achievement comes as institutional investors resume capital deployment, benefiting from the “New Year effect.”According to source
On Jan. 2, President Yoon Suk-yeol announced, “I will push for the abolition of the Financial Investment Income Tax.” This move is expected to spark controversy as it involves the cancellation of an agreement with the opposition party.On this day, President Yoon attended the “2024 Securities and Der
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com -- Ed.We attribute the strong yield drop of 4Q23 to a reversal of the sharp r* increase fears of 3Q23, rather than bets on economic downturn. Of note, the Fed’s actual r* estimate was halved in 4Q23. For t
Debt, or credit, for both households and businesses surged to a historic peak, surpassing twice the gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter of this year. With an increasing number of businesses relying on non-banking institutions after the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a rising house
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at bk@nhqv.com -- Ed.In 2023, an inflection point for the stock market was reached reflecting the differing stances taken by the Fed and market participants. Recently, the Fed has begun looking ahead toward lowering interest
Micron Technology, alongside other leading artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor companies like Intel, has ramped up efforts to challenge industry front runners. According to semiconductor industry sources on Dec. 24, Micron, the third-largest DRAM manufacturer globally, is currently undergoing
SK hynix is accelerating the development of a new process, “Hybrid Bonding,” to maintain its global leadership in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). The industry is closely watching whether SK hynix can continue to lead the specialty memory sector by being the first to apply this dream packaging technolog
Recent data reveals that less than 1 percent of the South Korean population, specifically the top wealth holders, possess nearly 60 percent of the total financial assets of all households. Their combined financial assets amount to 2,747 trillion won (US$2.11 trillion), with real estate assets reachi
On Dec. 18, Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBC) announced the selection of the Pan Ocean-JKL consortium as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of the management rights of HMM, the largest ocean container shipping company in South Korea. After negotiation