October 26: Goldman Sachs KOSPI target lowered by 9,000, coin tax deferral, Ahn Se-young wins 50 consecutive wins, 10 wins, SpaceX procures 53 trillion GPUs

Goldman Sachs, a global investment bank, lowered its target for Korea's KOSPI by 25% from 12,000 to 9,000 to reflect concerns about recovery of investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and the selling off of technology stocks, but assessed that there remains room for an increase of more than 60% compared to the current index (MBC, YTN). Standby funds in the domestic stock market have decreased by KRW 51 trillion in the past four months, while individual investors have increased high-risk investments (Chosun Ilbo), and amid falling stock prices and high interest rates, the balance of household loans at the five major banks in the market has increased by KRW 2.605 trillion this month to KRW 783.4397 trillion due to increased stock debt investment and home mortgage loans (Dong-A Ilbo). In addition, the gap in the price of houses owned and occupied by households in the top and bottom 20% of assets widened to 290 times, approaching 300 times (Yonhap News), and in the auction market for apartments under 1.5 billion won in the metropolitan area, such as Cheolsan-dong, Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do, an overheated pattern was observed, with items with an appraised value of 800 million won being sold for 1.1 billion won (successful bid rate of 135.3%) (Dong-A Ilbo).

In terms of tax and macro policy, the Blue House decided to postpone the fourth additional taxation of virtual assets (coins), which was scheduled to be implemented in January 2027, considering the decline in the stock market and the opposition of young people's public opinion (Chosun Ilbo, Hankyoreh). While the coin industry was pleased, hoping to reduce the outflow of funds, the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy protested, saying that it was a violation of tax principles and that taxation should be implemented as planned (Yonhap News). Meanwhile, President Lee Jae-myung said that Korea's current account surplus in the second quarter exceeded the sum of Germany and Japan, calling it a wave of great opportunity for the Korean economy and emphasizing investment in growth engines and income improvement after semiconductors (Yonhap News, MBC). As the won/dollar exchange rate approached the 1,310 won range, the won nominal effective exchange rate hit the highest in two years (Yonhap News).

In the industry, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who celebrates his 4th anniversary in office on the 27th, was assessed to have surpassed KRW 100 trillion in quarterly operating profit for the first time as a global big tech company in the third quarter (Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's combined third quarter operating profit is expected to be KRW 180 to 185 trillion) and laid the foundation for recovery of AI memory competitiveness. However, expectations for economic recovery in non-semiconductor manufacturing such as automobiles and chemicals in November have been dampened. It was investigated (Dong-A Ilbo, GD Net Korea, Hankyoreh). For the first time since its founding, Kia has set its sights on future cars by mass producing the hydrogen car Carnival in 2029 and reorganizing its Gwangju Hanam factory into a base specializing in military vehicles (Dong-A Ilbo). In the online community, Theku's post saying that they immigrated to Korea because they thought it would fail, but the Korean economy has revived ranked first with 74,719 views, while Bobae Dream's article on the Korean economic situation (6,980 views) and Clien's article on progressive real estate discourse (4,801 views) also attracted attention.

Elon Musk, CEO of Space On the other hand, in Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service completed the on-site inspection of Mirae Asset Securities' allocation of zero shares of Space Meanwhile, regarding the AI ​​hacking incident in the financial sector, the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police and the Serious Crimes Investigation Office passed over the responsibility of the investigation for three weeks, but eventually the police decided to investigate again, raising criticism of the incident (Chosun Ilbo), and the website of the Incheon Police Agency and 12 affiliated police stations was temporarily suspended after a PHP security vulnerability was discovered (Gyeonggi Ilbo).

Big news continued in the fields of next-generation technology and AI investigation and science. A security warning (Chosun Ilbo) was issued that the emergence of quantum computers could neutralize existing financial encryption systems and threaten bank account balances, and the Financial Supervisory Service used an AI analysis system to trace the background of illegal private finance organizations and discovered that dozens of officially registered loan companies were involved in illegal private loan business (Yonhap News, Kyunghyang Shinmun, MBC). Researchers at Ohio State University demonstrated a digital olfactory transmission technology that decodes the coffee scent in Seoul into digital information and reproduces it with scent molecules in New York (Chosun Ilbo), and an economist's analysis (Electronic Newspaper) that the blockbuster game GTA6, which is scheduled to be released on November 19, could cause 1.5 million American workers to take leave, resulting in a short-term productivity loss of up to $1 billion (approximately 1.32 trillion won), also attracted attention.

In the gaming and mobile community, the biggest topic was the announcement that the subculture game Blue Archive would graduate from Japanese publisher Yostar in January next year and that Nexon would take charge of direct service in Japan. While the official live broadcast recorded 665,863 views on YouTube, a heated discussion took place on the top Japanese Hatena bookmarks and Korea's Akara Live (9,620, 6,264, and 5,705 views) surrounding the background of Yostar's graduation and the statement of Executive Producer Kim Yong-ha. Regarding the iPhone Duo, American YouTuber SarahGrace's camera criticism Shorts (959,717 times), and Clien (6,286, 5,376 times) and Mico (1,154 times) criticized screen damage and standard specifications, and Ruliweb's post urging users of older Samsung Galaxy models to back up their data in advance (17,732 times) attracted attention.

Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), world number one in badminton women's singles, won the final of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour 2026 French Open held at the Arena Grand Paris in Paris, France, and set an unprecedented milestone of winning 3 consecutive tournaments, 50 consecutive wins in official matches, and 10 wins in the season (66 wins, 1 loss, 98.5% winning rate) (Chosun Ilbo). As a result, Ahn Se-young has only one tournament left to tie her record for most wins in a single season (11 crowns), and Ahn Se-young's French Open win and notices introducing local competitions attracted attention in Ddanzi Ilbo (4,920 times) and Gag House (4,831 times). In professional volleyball, Korean Air defeated Hyundai Capital with a set score of 3-1 thanks to the outstanding performance of the 207cm German foreign main gun, despite the negative news of coach Renan Dal Giotto's absence due to lumbar disc surgery, and won the KOVO Cup for the second time in a row and for the first time in history, seven times in total (Dong-A Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo).

Big matches and controversies continued on the baseball and soccer stages as well. With the first round of the professional baseball playoffs between the KIA Tigers and Samsung Lions, which was postponed due to rain the previous day, being held in Daegu on the 26th, the focus is on Jung Hae-young's pledge to complete 150 saves in KIA's last fall baseball game before enlistment, Samsung's 35-save relief king Kim Jae-yoon's absence due to damage to his serratus anterior, Choi Hyung-woo's high praise for KIA's Kim Do-young, and the challenge of Samsung's 19-year-old rookie pitcher Jang Chan-hee. It was highlighted (Chosun Ilbo). In Game 2 of the American Major League World Series, Tampa Bay's Yandy Diaz's check swing with 2 outs and 3rd base on third base in the top of the 9th inning was ruled as north wing, sparking public opinion on the American Reddit baseball bulletin board and domestic media (Chosun Ilbo) for the introduction of KBO-style check swing video review. Manchester United of the English Premier League lost 0-3 at home to Bournemouth, falling into an 8-game winless streak (16th in the league), leading to the dismissal of manager Michael Carrick. It is imminent (Chosun Ilbo).

In the entertainment and cultural world, the Golden Bell anecdote (Dong-A Ilbo, Newsfield) in which 74-year-old A2O Entertainment key producer Lee Soo-man celebrated the first place on a music show by the girl group A2O LITE, which he produced in collaboration with his nephews Sunny and Yoo Young-jin, paid for the meal and presented bracelets to all customers at a restaurant in Yaksu Station, Seoul, and the post about Lee Soo-man's Nylon kicks on The QU attracted 50,000 people. It attracted explosive interest, recording 4,216 views. The music video for Insomnia, a new acoustic pop song released by the boy group RIIZE at midnight on the 26th, exceeded 907,104 views on YouTube immediately after its release (Chosun Ilbo, YouTube), and actress Jeon Do-yeon, who appeared in director Lee Chang-dong's Netflix film Possible Love, was mentioned as a candidate for the Best Actress Oscar by American foreign media (Yonhap News). In addition, critic Lee Dong-jin's review of Chiikawa the Movie (44,637 times) and his review of the entertainment program aired the previous day on air (70,663 times) dominated the top rankings on Theku.