Citigroup slightly lowered South Korea's GDP growth forecast to 1.5% next year. It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates next month. Citigroup released a report saying that considering the worse economic sentiment in South Korea this month, it slightly lowered its GDP forecast for this year and next year by 0.1 percentage point to 2.1% and 1.5% respectively. The bank slightly lowered Korea's GDP growth forecast for the last quarter of this year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.3% quarterly, and raised its GDP growth forecast for the first quarter of next year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.6% quarterly. Looking forward to the first quarter of next year, the bank expects South Korea to adopt a combination of expansionary policies, including the Bank of Korea's expected interest rate cut to 2.75% in mid-January, and the government's expected additional budget of 30 trillion won (equivalent to about 1.1% of GDP next year). It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates by 25BP each in January, April, July and October next year, and the final interest rate is expected to be 2%.Market News: NVIDIA has increased its recruitment in China, focusing on artificial intelligence to drive cars.Yamato: Raising the target price of IWC to HK$ 20 has a more positive view on next year's revenue growth. Yamato published a report that under the strong demand from Malaysia, the bank has a more positive view on IWC's revenue growth next year. In addition, the bank believes that the external financing of operating GDSI, a data center outside the mainland, will release shareholder value. However, as GDSI will be separated from IWC's consolidated statements in the fourth quarter of this year, the bank believes that IWC's short-term re-evaluation will still mainly depend on its mainland business performance, so it still maintains a wait-and-see attitude. The bank maintained its "hold" rating on IWC, and its target price was raised from HK$ 8.6 to HK$ 20. Considering the increase in capital expenditure of IWC from 2025 to 2026, the bank raised its revenue forecast for this year and next by 5% to 24%, mainly due to the strong demand in the international market driven by short video platforms. In addition, in view of the fact that the company raised its capital expenditure guideline from 6.5 billion yuan to 11 billion yuan this year, the bank raised its capital expenditure forecast from 6.7 billion yuan to 11 billion yuan in 2024 and from 3.5 billion yuan to 10.5 billion yuan in 2025. In addition, the bank will raise the adjusted EBITDA forecast of IWC this year and next by 4% to 13% to consider the EBITDA contribution of its overseas business; It is estimated that the total revenue will increase by 15% this year (10% compared with the previous forecast) and 33% next year (15% compared with the previous forecast). The adjusted EBITDA is expected to increase by 11% and 25% this year and next (8% and 15% compared with the previous forecast).
Israel's Mossad Director held talks with Qatar's Prime Minister on promoting the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza. Two Israeli sources revealed that Israel's Intelligence and Secret Service (Mossad) Director Barnea visited Doha, Qatar, on the 11th and held talks with Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad. The two sides focused on promoting the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza.Daiwa Capital Market raised the target price of Tesla from $285 to $420.Mizuho listed in Japan to invest in the ETF of Saudi stock market.
Samsung Electronics will hold its 2025 strategy meeting next week. Yonhap News Agency quoted unnamed industry sources as saying that Samsung Electronics will hold its 2025 global strategy meeting next week. The electronic products business meeting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, while the semiconductor department meeting will be held on Thursday. The main agenda items include the upcoming Galaxy S25 smartphone. Lee Jae-yong, the company's executive chairman, is not expected to attend these meetings.Chief Economic Adviser of India: Continuing to support high-quality capital expenditure will be the driving force to maintain India's economic growth.Samsung Electronics shares rose 3%.