00:02You're listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
00:30Putin's new Russian diesel deal is already drawing fire from inside the president's
00:34own party.
00:35It's Monday, October 12.
00:38Here's why global investors are paying attention to Korea today.
00:41The IMF already lifted Korea's 2026 outlook once this year, and most forecasters expect
00:48another upgrade when the next report lands.
00:51The Fed's next meeting is two weeks away, which makes this week's inflation data the
00:56last major signal before that decision.
00:58Meanwhile, a new flare-up in the Middle East is colliding with Washington's own push
01:03to use Russian oil supply to manage fuel costs, putting two separate risk channels in motion
01:09at once.
01:10Here's what the numbers show.
01:12The IMF raised Korea's 2026 growth forecast to 2.6% in July, up from April's 1.9%, and
01:21a fresh upgrade is expected this Tuesday.
01:23U.S. core inflation held at 2.4% in August, matching forecasts.
01:29September's print, due this week, is expected at 2.5%, the last major data point before the
01:36Fed's late October meeting.
01:38JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup opened third-quarter earnings season Tuesday,
01:45before the New York opening bell.
01:46A Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport Friday killed 12 people and injured
01:53more than 300, the airport's third attack since October 5.
01:59Washington's near-term fix is 800,000 tons of confirmed Russian diesel supply by next month.
02:04Call it 6 million barrels, barely a day and a half of U.S. demand, even though the total
02:11deal with Moscow runs to 4.8 million tons.
02:15Republican Senators Dan Sullivan and Mike Rogers have already broken with the White House
02:20over that deal, calling it a serious misstep.
02:23So what does this mean for global investors watching Korea?
02:27Earlier, we said the IMF could raise Korea's growth forecast again.
02:31Here's what that actually means for you.
02:34Tuesday's release would mark a third straight upward revision this year, keeping the case
02:39for staying overweight Korean equities intact heading into earnings season.
02:43Watch the Fed's late October decision.
02:46This week's CPI print is the last signal before then, and a hot number would pressure the
02:51yuan and raise the cost of hedging back into dollars.
02:54And watch the Middle East, a third Houthi strike on Saudi infrastructure in two weeks, layered
03:00on a Russian diesel deal that barely dents U.S. demand, is exactly the kind of risk that
03:05triggers rotation out of export-driven markets like Korea's.
03:09That's today's AI Prism, Global Investors.
03:13This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed
03:19by a human editor.
03:20AI Prism is a Juan Ifra award-winning series.
03:24We'll be back tomorrow.
03:25You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
03:29You.
03:30You.
03:32You.
