South Korea’s government said Tuesday it will restructure the domestic steel industry and expand financial support for exporters as the sector faces growing strain from U.S. and European Union tariffs and worsening oversupply.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it plans to take “preemptive steps” to adjust production capacity in oversupplied product segments while introducing new policy and financing measures to help exporters navigate rising trade barriers.
Officials said the move reflects mounting signs of crisis in one of South Korea’s core industrial sectors, which has been squeezed by falling global demand, surging energy costs, and escalating protectionist measures abroad.
The restructuring effort is expected to include production realignment, targeted subsidies for high-value steel exports, and measures to boost competitiveness through innovation and low-carbon production.
Analysts said the initiative underscores the government’s concern over the industry’s deteriorating profitability and export outlook, as the combined effect of trade restrictions and weak construction demand threatens to prolong the downturn.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.
South Korea’s government said Tuesday it will restructure the domestic steel industry and expand financial support for exporters as the sector faces growing strain from U.S. and European Union tariffs and worsening oversupply.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it plans to take “preemptive steps” to adjust production capacity in oversupplied product segments while introducing new policy and financing measures to help exporters navigate rising trade barriers.
Officials said the move reflects mounting signs of crisis in one of South Korea’s core industrial sectors, which has been squeezed by falling global demand, surging energy costs, and escalating protectionist measures abroad.
The restructuring effort is expected to include production realignment, targeted subsidies for high-value steel exports, and measures to boost competitiveness through innovation and low-carbon production.
Analysts said the initiative underscores the government’s concern over the industry’s deteriorating profitability and export outlook, as the combined effect of trade restrictions and weak construction demand threatens to prolong the downturn.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.
South Korea’s consumer prices accelerated more than expected in October, marking the fastest year-on-year rise in 15 months and complicating expectations for further policy easing from the Bank of Korea.
Headline CPI rose 2.4% from a year earlier, beating a Reuters poll forecast of 2.1% and quickening from 2.0% in September. On a monthly basis, prices increased 0.3%, also ahead of expectations for no change.
Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, climbed 2.2% year-on-year, up from 2.0% previously — signalling that underlying price pressures are building again after months of moderation.
Officials at the Statistics Office said the uptick was broad-based, with higher prices for utilities, fresh food and services contributing most to the increase. The data suggest inflation momentum is re-accelerating as domestic demand firms and energy costs stabilise at higher levels.
The reading marks the fastest pace of inflation since July 2024, reinforcing caution among policymakers who have kept rates steady through 2025 amid a delicate balance between supporting growth and preventing a rebound in inflation expectations.
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The stronger-than-expected CPI print may dampen expectations for Bank of Korea rate cuts early next year. Rising core inflation and broad-based price gains could push policymakers to keep policy restrictive for longer, supporting the won and short-end yields.
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October CPI:
+0.3% m/m
+2.4% y/y
Core CPI +2.2% y/y
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.
OpenAI has signed a seven-year, $38 billion cloud-computing agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) — a major expansion of its infrastructure base following a restructuring that loosened its financial ties to Microsoft. The deal gives the ChatGPT maker access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia processors hosted on AWS to train and run its next generation of artificial-intelligence models.
ICYMI, news from Monday US time.
Under the agreement, all capacity will be online by end-2026, with potential to expand further beyond 2027.
Amazon will deploy Nvidia GB200 and GB300 AI accelerators in purpose-built data clusters to handle ChatGPT’s training and inference workloads.
The tie-up marks a significant boost for Amazon’s cloud business.
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The OpenAI–AWS deal reinforces investor optimism in Amazon’s AI capabilities and highlights the escalating capital intensity of the AI sector. The pact may lift sentiment toward cloud and chip stocks — particularly Nvidia — while sharpening competition across Big Tech’s AI ecosystems.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.
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