BITPRESS | Where the money moves behind the news

Mideast oil is back. Why are prices still high?

Middle East oil exports for the week through Oct. 18 topped 24 million barrels a day, above the prewar 23.3 million, yet Brent crude stood at $108.86 on Oct. 21. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is only...

Crypto

Japanese tourists pay with yen coins. What do Korean shops get?

Shinhan Card is testing yen stablecoin payments with Japan's SBI but has not said how shops will be paid. In the Binance Pay and PayPay service already live in Japan, the customer pays in...

Korean Stocks

A US AI server maker's sales sent Samsung and SK hynix up over 5%. Why?

After Supermicro gave a pre-close estimate of $18.5 billion to $19.5 billion for the quarter that ended in September, $4 billion above its August guidance, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix rose...

Crypto

The US banned stablecoin interest. Why not crypto exchange rewards?

The US GENIUS Act banned interest an issuer pays "solely for holding," and the final rule from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) dropped draft language presuming rewards from third parties tied to issuers...

Investing 101

Jobs and inflation look fine, yet stocks fell. What changed?

Jobs and inflation statistics are last month's report card, while a stock price is today's value on the money a company will earn later. Even when the data look fine, a change in the outlook for rates, earnings, stretched valuations or crowded...

Government Policy

Korea raised rates twice to 3%. Why won't its central bank call it enough?

The Bank of Korea sees its 3% policy rate at the top of its earlier estimated range for the neutral rate, but it is re-estimating that benchmark, so it won't say how hard the rate is holding the economy back. If...

Global Stocks

Tesla weighs a SpaceX merger. What changes for Tesla shareholders?

Tesla and SpaceX have each formed a special committee to study a merger, but no terms or timeline have been set. If it happens, Tesla shareholders' share will be decided not by SpaceX's results but...

Crypto

France eyes 31% tax on stablecoin swaps. Why before cash-out?

On Oct. 16, France's lower house voted 38 to 37 for an amendment that would tax gains at 31.4% the moment crypto is swapped into stablecoins. The rate...

Crypto

An ETF lost 1% as bitcoin fell 52%. BlackRock wants in. The catch?

While bitcoin fell as much as 52% from its peak, a Calamos protected ETF that keeps about 90% of its assets in U.S. Treasuries lost just 1%, and BlackRock...

Global Stocks

The Nasdaq fell 4.5% in a week. What should you check first?

The Nasdaq fell 4.5% on Oct. 12-16, its worst week since late June, yet its biggest one-day drop was only 2.1%. What made the weekly total was not one bad...

Real Estate

Monthly rent tops half of Seoul apartment lease deals for the first time. Where did 32,000 jeonse deals go?

In the first nine months of this year, monthly-rent deals on Seoul apartments fell 2.8% from a year earlier, yet the monthly-rent share rose from 43.7% to 51.0%. That is because jeonse deals fell 27.5%, or about 32,000...

Investing 101

Only the riskiest corporate bond spreads jumped more than 2 percentage points in a month. Why are high-grade bonds so quiet?

The spread on the lowest-rated U.S. corporate bonds (CCC and below) jumped from 10.76 percentage points to 12.97 percentage points in a month, while high-grade corporate bonds barely moved, from 0.78 to 0.85 percentage points. The market is...

Global Stocks

With an Iran war on, why are U.S. defense stocks down 19% from their August high?

U.S. defense stocks have fallen even as the Iran war goes on, and the market blames the November midterm elections, not the war. Defense company sales come from the defense budget...

Korean Stocks

Why LG Energy Solution rose 20% as KOSPI fell 16%

LG Energy Solution rose in a falling market not because of electric vehicles but because of ESS (energy storage systems) for AI data centers. Two Chinese companies hold 56% of North American ESS...

Crypto

Why Broadcom and Verizon rejected 24/7 stock tokens

Broadcom, Verizon and seven other companies gave no reasons, but Nasdaq pointed to prices set outside the consolidated tape, and TD Securities to a five-year temporary exemption that...

Real Estate

Jeonse loans fell for over a year. Why do mortgages keep rising?

In September, bank mortgages grew KRW 2.9 trillion even after KRW 900 billion in jeonse loans dropped out, and KRW 1.6 trillion of that was individual mortgages taken out to buy...

Government Policy

U.S. prices jumped. Why did Treasury yields hit a 3-week low?

On Oct. 15, U.S. producer prices jumped 1.3% in a month, yet the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 5.05%, its lowest in three weeks. AI investment...

Crypto

Stablecoin supply grew just 0.4% this year. Why did payments rise 45%?

Stablecoin supply grew 0.4% this year, but payments from January to September rose 45% to $482 billion. No new money came in; coins that already existed changed...

Crypto

6 million bitcoin are exposed to quantum attack. Are yours among them?

Quantum risk is not the same for every bitcoin. The 6.04 million BTC whose public keys are already exposed come first, and two-thirds of them became exposed through reused...

Real Estate

Gangnam home prices fell 1% this year, so why did Jungnang and Gangbuk rise more than 10%?

Through the second week of October, Gangnam apartment prices fell 0.95%, while Jungnang rose 10.77% and Gangbuk 10.81%. Gangnam was held down by owners selling before taxes rise, while the outskirts were...

Investing 101

After a 20.7% Plunge and a 2% Rebound in KOSPI, How Can You Tell a 'Dead-Cat Bounce' From a Real Bottom?

This year the KOSPI has recovered all four times it fell more than 10%, taking an average of 14.25 trading days, but the 8,000 level it lost in the 10.4% plunge in early July has yet to...

Global Stocks

Gold fell 25% from its peak, silver 53%. Same precious metals, so where did the gap come from?

Since January's record high, gold has fallen 25.5% and silver 53.2%. 58% of silver demand comes from factories, and solar companies have started using less of the now-pricier silver, and...

Korean Stocks

Musk: "China will flood the market with DRAM in 2028" — Will Samsung and SK hynix DRAM prices fall?

Of the DRAM wafers being added worldwide through 2028, Korea's expansion is bigger than China's, and analysts say any Chinese chips used would reach general-purpose DRAM for phones and PCs...

Crypto

Stablecoins pay no interest. Why do bank deposit rates matter to them?

A BIS analysis finds that even stablecoins, which pay no interest, grow more slowly when U.S. bank deposit rates rise: if rates go up 0.01 percentage points in a week, 10-week...