Market Overview

Shares of SK Hynix plunged more than 8 percent on Tuesday as a broader sell-off in technology stocks swept across Asian markets following a weak session on Wall Street, CNBC reported. The decline hit the South Korean chipmaker alongside rival Samsung Electronics, which shed 7.9 percent as both stocks reached their lowest intra-day levels since August. The regional downturn tracked a 0.44 percent drop in the Nasdaq Composite on Monday, fueled by worries over artificial intelligence financing and competitive pressures. In Japan, SoftBank Group sank 8.03 percent to lead a retreat in electronics and semiconductor shares. Tokyo Electron dropped 6.6 percent, Advantest declined 5.38 percent, Renesas Electronics shed 5.89 percent, Lasertec fell 4.76 percent, and Disco lost 4.83 percent. The sell-off followed reports that Chinese memory maker ChangXin Memory Technologies made progress on a new chip architecture designed to increase memory density. Micron Technology slid 3.9 percent in the United States as investors assessed the rising competition.

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The International Monetary Fund warned that the global economy could soon test the limits of resilience due to depleted emergency energy stocks and overstretched government budgets, The Guardian reported. In its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook published in Bangkok, the agency noted that global growth withstood the Middle East conflict better than feared over the past six months through the rerouting of oil supplies and strategic releases. However, emergency oil reserves are now low, leaving governments with little capacity to protect consumers from future price shocks. The IMF revised its global economic growth forecast for this year marginally up to 3.1%, compared with 3% in its July update, while leaving next year's forecast unchanged at 3.4%. US growth remains steady at 2.3% this year and is revised up to 2.3% for 2027 from 2.2%. UK growth for this year was predicted at 1.3%, up 0.3 percentage points from July, though next year's forecast was cut to 1.2% from 1.3%. Global inflation is expected to reach 4.7% this year and decline to 4.1% in 2027. Prolonged high oil prices and rising interest rates are expected to weigh on consumption and investment, edge growth down in 2027, and cause inflation spikes to last longer than previously forecast. The IMF urged central banks not to overreact to short-term inflation jumps but to remain ready to respond if inflation entrenches.

Theguardian

Getty Images will file for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy and go private in a restructuring agreement backed by Charles Koch's investment firm and the Getty family. Affiliates of Koch Equity Development and the Getty family committed up to $533 million of new equity to take the visual content provider private and eliminate heavy debt. The restructuring follows the abandonment in late June of a $3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock after British regulators required the divestiture of Shutterstock's editorial business. Under the plan, holders of Getty's unsecured bonds agreed to retire $270 million of notes, while secured lenders agreed to reduce interest costs and extend debt maturities. The company reported total debt of about $2.1 billion as of June 30, compared with a market valuation of $20.74 million as of Friday's close. Getty shares have lost about 99% of their value since returning to public markets in 2022 through a special purpose acquisition company that valued the firm at about $4.8 billion. The New York Stock Exchange commenced delisting proceedings against the company at the end of September. Koch Equity Development also provided up to $143 million to support the restructuring process. Upon completion, affiliates of the Getty family and Koch Equity Development will own 100% of the reorganized company. The company expects the restructuring to be completed by the end of the year.

Hollywoodreporter

Shares of Six Flags Entertainment plunged more than 10 percent in after-hours trading Monday following reports of a deadly roller coaster incident at the Six Flags Over Georgia park in Cobb County, CNBC reported. The stock had closed 4.5 percent higher during the regular session prior to the sell-off. One person died and several others were injured in an incident involving the park's 200-foot-tall Goliath roller coaster shortly before 4 p.m. Monday, according to local police cited in the report. Witnesses told a local news station they saw a man fall from the roller coaster and strike the ride several times before it stopped near the top, prompting the evacuation of other riders. Six Flags stated that staff and local authorities responded immediately, that it was cooperating with the investigation, and that it had temporarily closed similar attractions across its parks. The company's shares have fallen 22 percent year to date.

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The International Monetary Fund stated on Tuesday that the Bank of Japan will likely raise interest rates gradually toward a neutral setting despite an expected slowdown in growth, according to CNA. Growth in Japan is projected to slow to 0.7 per cent in 2026, following last year's 1.2 per cent expansion, before stabilising at 0.7 per cent in 2027 as the energy shock dissipates. The Bank of Japan previously raised interest rates to a 31-year high of 1.25 per cent in September to forestall inflation risks exceeding its 2 per cent target. Japan remains vulnerable to inflationary pressures due to its heavy reliance on imported fuel and raw materials alongside a weak currency. The IMF noted that central banks may need to raise nominal interest rates if inflation expectations heighten, in order to keep real borrowing costs steady. High exchange rate volatility across Asia has prompted currency interventions, including a joint Japan-US operation to support the yen.

Channelnewsasia

Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 AI processor on Monday at the OCP Global Summit, laying out plans for multi-gigawatt deployments beginning in 2027. The third-generation chip is built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's N2P process node with eight HBM4 memory stacks, aiming to handle internal inference workloads for services like GitHub Copilot and Microsoft Foundry. Microsoft projects the system will deliver 40 percent more tokens per megawatt than leading GPU-based systems. A single rack containing 96 of the new chips is designed to yield seven times the token throughput of the preceding Maia 200 model. Unlike cloud rivals Amazon and Google, Microsoft does not currently plan to rent its custom silicon to external customers. The company intends to reserve its internal production for services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, preserving third-party Nvidia hardware for paying cloud clients. Capital expenditure pressures have mounted as data center outlays accelerated. Cash spending on property and equipment reached $35.80 billion in the quarter ended June, more than double the $17.08 billion reported a year earlier. Over the trailing four quarters, such capital expenditures totaled $115.95 billion, representing an 80 percent increase from the prior four-period span. Concurrently, gross margins compressed from 69.05 percent in the quarter ended September 2025 down to 67.20 percent in the quarter ended June. Shares of Microsoft traded up more than one percent following the announcement.

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Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong rejected calls to weaken the local currency as a shortcut to economic competitiveness, CNBC reported on Monday. Speaking at the Asia Future Forward Conference, Wong told DBS CEO Tan Su Shan that the city-state must rely on capabilities and stability rather than depressing its exchange rate to favor exporters. The Monetary Authority of Singapore manages the currency through a policy band against a basket of major trading partners, using the mechanism to contain imported inflation rather than adjusting benchmark interest rates. While a strong currency increases operating costs for domestic businesses and adds pressure on overseas sales, Wong argued that Singapore cannot compete on price alone in Southeast Asia. The Singapore dollar has strengthened almost 0.4 percent against the greenback since the start of the year. Wong emphasized that companies prioritize predictability and industrial ecosystems linking multinational corporations with domestic suppliers and research capabilities over the cheapest operating locations. The city-state will maintain an independent monetary policy anchored on economic fundamentals to keep price pressures contained.

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Dating app operator Bumble is in advanced talks to be taken private by Ithaca Holdings in a deal valuing the company at roughly $1 billion, CNA reported on Monday. The shares surged about 50 per cent to $3.81 following the report, lifting the Austin, Texas-based firm from a market value of roughly $389 million. The talks follow a sharp decline in user engagement across the online dating sector. Total paying users for Bumble fell more than 11 per cent in the full year 2025 to about 3.7 million. Annual revenue simultaneously declined nearly 10 per cent to about $966 million. In the second quarter ended June 30, total paying users decreased 16.4 per cent to 3.2 million. Shares of the company had fallen around 29 per cent this year prior to the session amid growing disillusionment among Gen Z subscribers. Founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, who returned to the CEO role in March last year, the pioneer of the women-first approach has recently rolled out AI-powered features to combat slowing growth. Ithaca Holdings is a technology holding company founded by Silicon Valley executives Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman.

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Heavy crude is piling up across the Americas as soaring freight rates stifle exports and US refiners operate near capacity, CNA reported. Benchmark prices hold above $100 a barrel while global buyers in Asia and Europe struggle with supply shortages. US refineries have operated at about 93.5 per cent capacity on an average weekly basis this year, marking the highest level in 28 years. The cost of hiring a supertanker from the US Gulf Coast to Asia rose to more than $80 million last week, compared with around $10 million to $15 million near the start of the year. Shipping to Europe cost around $46 million last week, up from $6.5 million before the Iran war broke out in late February. Flagship Canadian, Colombian, and Ecuadorian heavy crude grades have all eased more than $10 a barrel over six weeks. Western Canada Select traded around $74 on Thursday, Colombia's Vasconia traded around $84, and Ecuador's Oriente traded around $76. Venezuelan crude traded around $74.50 a barrel on Thursday. Washington has released more than 130 million barrels from its emergency reserve, and Venezuelan exports have surged following the capture of former President Nicolas Maduro in January. High freight rates are forcing heavy sour storage builds in the Americas.

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The European Union and China struck a trade agreement on Friday under which Beijing agreed to curb hybrid car exports and ease rare earths licensing, Euronews reported. The European Commission framed the deal as the first phase of talks launched in June to rebalance trade relations, addressing a bilateral deficit exceeding €1 billion a day. Under the accord, the EU will introduce quotas allowing 350,000 Chinese hybrid cars onto the European market annually over four years, with a fixed annual adjustment rate of 6%. That quota will cut by more than half the current exports to the EU, which officials estimate will reach up to 800,000 units in 2026. Chinese car exports to the EU are worth around €15bn, a fraction of the EU's €360bn bilateral trade deficit with China. The EU also secured tariff liberalisation for car parts, footwear, ice cream, and olive oil, saving at least €225 million in duties. The agreement follows a joint call from French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for a new trade defence instrument to counter foreign economic distortions. EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič is scheduled to hold a video call with his Chinese counterpart in January, followed by another round of political talks in March. Meanwhile, the Commission promised EU ambassadors that it would present proposals for the requested trade defence tool before the December EU summit.

Euronews