China Extends Gold Buying Streak as Reserves Surge Despite Volatile Prices 
India–U.S. Interim Trade Pact Cuts Auto Tariffs but Leaves Tesla Out 
Trump Endorses Japan’s Sanae Takaichi Ahead of Crucial Election Amid Market and China Tensions 
South Africa Eyes ECB Repo Lines as Inflation Eases and Rate Cuts Loom 
Rio Tinto Shares Hit Record High After Ending Glencore Merger Talks 
Amazon Stock Rebounds After Earnings as $200B Capex Plan Sparks AI Spending Debate 
Weight-Loss Drug Ads Take Over the Super Bowl as Pharma Embraces Direct-to-Consumer Marketing 
Hims & Hers Halts Compounded Semaglutide Pill After FDA Warning 
SpaceX Prioritizes Moon Mission Before Mars as Starship Development Accelerates 
American Airlines CEO to Meet Pilots Union Amid Storm Response and Financial Concerns 
South Korea Assures U.S. on Trade Deal Commitments Amid Tariff Concerns 
Japan Economy Poised for Q4 2025 Growth as Investment and Consumption Hold Firm 
OpenAI Expands Enterprise AI Strategy With Major Hiring Push Ahead of New Business Offering 
Instagram Outage Disrupts Thousands of U.S. Users 
Washington Post Publisher Will Lewis Steps Down After Layoffs 
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says AI Investment Boom Is Just Beginning as NVDA Shares Surge 
Top global investment banks (IB) forecast the South Korean economy to grow 3.4 percent this year, up by 0.1 percentage point from their previous estimate.
Credit Suisse upgraded its estimate by 0.7 percentage point to 3.6 percent and HSBC by 0.5 percentage point to 2.7 percent.
Others surveyed in late December, Barclays, BoA-Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Nomura Securities, and UBS, have retained their previous projections ranging from 3 percent to 4.1 percent.
UBS gave the rosiest outlook of 4.1 percent.
South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance recently forecasted a 3.2 percent growth, while the Bank of Korea gave a 3 percent outlook.
The average 2021 outlook for the global economy stood at 5.7 percent.
The forecast for China was an 8.4 percent growth, while the US was given a 4.4 percent growth outlook. Japan is expected to grow 3 percent.
