The Korea Economic Research Institute of the Federation of Korean Industries said on June 7 that a reasonable increase in U.S. interest rate is estimated at 1.37 to 1.54 percentage points as compared with the Q1 rate of 0.07 percent.“In the United States, the year-on-year consumer price increase was
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. In 1H21, strong sales of online concert tickets and albums have reconfirmed the strong global fan base for YG Ent’s main artists. In 2H21, following collaboration with Weverse, we expect the firm’s
The Hyundai Research Institute warned of the risk of debts after the Bank of Korea recently mentioned the possibility of an increase in benchmark rate for the first time in a while. “Both public and private debts have soared since the outbreak of COVID-19 and South Korea’s fiscal soundness and even
McDonald's "The BTS Meal" is receiving positive responses from consumers. It debuted in the United States and other countries on May 26 and in South Korea on May 27. However, the fast food giant did not release the meal in China and Japan, the two biggest hamburger markets in Asia, drawing atten
A strain dispute between Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Medytox is still far from over.Daewoong Pharmaceutical said in a press release on May 27 (local time) that it submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch an investigation into the manipulation of data on liquid bot
McDonald’s launched the McDonald’s BTS Set in South Korea on May 27. The set comes with 10 McNuggets, medium French fries, a medium beverage and sweet chili and cajun sauces.In addition, McDonald’s and BTS launched special collaboration goods on commerce platform Weverse Shop at 08:00, May 27. The g
The Bank of Korea kept the key rate at 0.5 percent on May 27. At the same time, the central bank adjusted its South Korean economic growth forecast for this year from 3 percent to 4 percent. The key rate is likely to be raised this year, meaning more burden on indebted households.Bank of Korea Gover
The Bank of Korea announced on May 25 that South Korean households’ outstanding credit amounted to 1,765 trillion won at the end of March this year, up 9.5 percent from a year ago. This year-on-year increase is the largest since its records began in 2003.Of the total, household loans increased 9.5 p
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at drlee@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain HOLD and cut our target price by 8.8% to KRW146,000 We maintain HOLD and cut our TP by 8.8% to KRW146,000 for Netmarble. We have derived our TP using the sum-of-the-parts valuation model, and have revised
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Netmarble’s long-awaited new title Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is to arrive in 1H21, and five new titles are being prepared for release in 2H21. Excluding the value of investment assets held, Netmar
The Korea Corporate Reputation Institute analyzed big data to find out the brand reputation of eight rental service companies in Korea in May 2021. Coway came in first, followed by Lotte Rental and SK Magic.The Brand Reputation Index divides consumers' activity big data regarding a brand into pa
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at leesunhwa@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY and TP of KRW305,000 We maintain BUY and TP of KRW305,000 for HYBE. Despite the absence of new album releases by key artists, the company reported solid 1Q21 earnings backed by rich artist IP res
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at leesunhwa@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY and target price of KRW305,000 We maintain BUY on HYBE and our TP of KRW305,000. Despite our lackluster 1Q21 earnings outlook based on no new album releases by major artists, we see no meaningful
Market research firm CEO Score reported on April 21 that the total liabilities of the 366 South Korean companies that constitute the top 500 enterprises of South Korea and have submitted their settlement reports for last year were 1,524.5884 trillion won in 2020, up 5.4 percent from a year ago.“The
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at leesunhwa@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY; TP raised by 13.0% from KRW270,000 to KRW305,000 We maintain BUY on Big Hit Entertainment (to be renamed HYBE this year), but raise our TP from KRW270,000 to KRW305,000. The company’s recent acq
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyuha.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. We raise our TP on LGI on an upward revision to our earnings forecasts, led by expanding shipments and market share growth at a North American client. Despite expected record-high earnings, LGI’s
The Korea Institute of Public Finance announced on April 5 that South Korea’s household debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 71 percent in 2008 to 98.6 in the second quarter of 2020. In this period, the average of those of advanced economies fell from 76.2 percent to 75.3 percent and the global average
The Bank of Korea announced on March 25 that it estimated South Korea’s private-sector credit-to-nominal GDP ratio as of the end of 2020 at 215.5 percent, the ratio is the highest since its records began in 1975, and the ratio increased by an all-time high of 18.4 percent in 2020.According to the ba
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in its report on March 21 that technical barriers to trade (TBTs) have increased at an annual average of 11 percent since the establishment of the WTO in 1995.“More than 3,000 TBTs were set up in each of 2018, 2019 and 2020, the number of global TBT no
Coway Co. has named Big Hit Entertainment's Grammy-nominated group BTS as the new global brand ambassador. "2021 is a crucial year for Coway to expand our brand presence as the global leader of the environmental home appliance industry. We’re delighted to appoint BTS as our global ambassador. We