Semiconductor Boom Drives BOK to Raise This Year’s Growth Outlook to 2.0% [3-Minute Brief]

[At a Glance]
1. BOK raises this year's growth outlook from 1.8% to 2.0%
2. Samsung's Lee Jae-yong on the verge of surpassing 40 trillion won in stock assets
3. Third Commercial Act amendment mandating cancellation of treasury shares passes plenary session

MARKET INDEX : Year to date

○The three major U.S. New York stock indexes ended mixed... Nvidia plunged 5%

○Profit-taking in technology stocks

○Software sector, which had been sluggish amid AI fears, rebounded

Top3 NEWS

■ Growth outlook raised to 2.0%... Unanimous rate freeze, "hold" view dominant six months out

○Base rate kept at 2.50% per year... sixth consecutive freeze since last July
○Semiconductors are surging and domestic demand is recovering, so the growth outlook was raised to 2.0%
○Introduced "K-dot plot" style rate projections, with a rate freeze seen as the most likely scenario

■ "Jaeyong, I can't stop smiling"... His stock assets near 40 trillion won, Hyundai father and son top 20 trillion won

○Chairman Lee Jae-yong's holdings reach 38.7 trillion won, with 20 trillion won in Samsung Electronics alone
○Combined stock assets of the four key Samsung family members exceed 86 trillion won
○Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo joins the "10 trillion won club" for the first time

■ Third Commercial Act amendment that drove the KOSPI 6000 passes... What governance issues could drive it to 7000?

○Lee: "There is a mountain of work to do, including the 'stock price suppression prevention law' (amendment to the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act)"
○Mandatory tender offer rules and the stewardship code are expected to strengthen the position of minority shareholders
○Ahead of the amended Commercial Act taking effect, many follow-up legislative tasks remain

Graphic News: "So this is what made the difference"... Which ETFs did the "top 5% by return" retirement pension experts buy?

○Among investors in the top 5% by return, holdings are concentrated in domestic ETFs such as KOSPI 200 and semiconductor-related products

○In the past, U.S. index ETFs accounted for a large share

○ETF trading is only available through securities firm accounts... No investments in leveraged or inverse products

the Chart: Corporate cyber insurance policies exceed 7,000 amid a string of hacking incidents... Up 42% last year

○Over the past five years, direct premiums written for cyber insurance have risen 68%

○Driven by growing corporate demand for a "minimum safety device"

○"We need to strengthen our capacity to compensate for losses after incidents"

Today's key schedule

○Domestic

○Overseas

08:30 Tokyo Core Consumer Price Index (YoY) (February)

16:45 France Consumer Price Index (MoM) (February)

22:00 Germany Consumer Price Index (MoM) (February)

22:30 U.S. Producer Price Index (MoM) (January)

◇Lunchtime & commute weather

○Morning low: 5 degrees Celsius (▲4 degrees Celsius) ｜Afternoon high: 15 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Celsius)
○Chance of precipitation: 20% in the morning ｜ 0% in the afternoon
○Fine dust: moderate in the morning ｜ good in the afternoon

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This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.