October 29: U.S. Federal Reserve freezes interest rates, business sentiment is at a 4-year high, Apple unveils its first touchscreen M6 MacBook Pro and confronts the removal of ballot boxes from Olympic Park

The U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) froze its benchmark interest rate at 3.75-4.00% per year at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regular meeting held a week before the November midterm elections. Although the rate took a month to catch its breath after last month's interest rate hike, two committee members insisted on an increase, and the futures market maintained a hawkish stance, reflecting an 85% probability of an additional increase in December. In particular, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh announced at a press conference that he would reduce interest rate decision meetings from 8 to 7 per year starting next year and to 6 in the following year, and pointed out Korea as a 'supplier of core AI components' and mentioned that they are watching it more closely than expected. In the New York Stock Exchange, SK Hynix's American Stock Depositary Receipt (ADR) soared 13% and Oracle's 11%, while Microsoft and Alphabet (Google)'s after-hours stock prices were mixed due to the burden of cash flow and facility investment (CapEx).

In Korea, thanks to the expansion of semiconductor production and investment, the business sentiment index (CBSI) for all industries rose 5.1 points in October, reaching the highest level in four years and two months. Following SK Hynix, which announced quarterly sales of 100 trillion won and a total of 60 trillion won in additional shareholder return the previous day, attention was focused on what kind of shareholder return card Samsung Electronics, which is releasing its final results for the third quarter today, will present. In the community, there were posts examining Big Tech's performance and semiconductor supply and demand, such as 82 Cook's 'Hynix ADR soaring +11%' (1,982 times), MLB Park's 'Google (Alphabet) -8%' (2,034 times), and Damoang's 'Google's performance underperformed, Microsoft's performance above' (1,800 times). Japan.jpg' (approximately 25,000 views) and Instiz's 'Golden spooners can't even imagine the family situation where their mother barely survives by earning only 200 at the supermarket' (approximately 31,000 views) were posted, revealing the temperature difference between the boom of large export companies and the prices perceived by ordinary people.

The National Election Commission's special prosecutor's on-site public verification of 2.47 million ballots that had been stored at the Seoul Olympic Park handball stadium for 147 days after the local elections was completed in about 12 hours. Special Prosecutor Lee Tae-han announced that he had selected a significant number of ballots that required further analysis, and right after the verification, police formed a human chain in the early morning hours and when the ballot boxes were taken out, People Power Party lawmaker Jang Dong-hyuk and others, who had been staging an all-night sit-in at the site, strongly protested, saying, 'The special prosecutor and the National Election Commission disappeared with the ballot boxes as if they were running away in the night.' Meanwhile, the court will hold a hearing today to decide on the appeal (second trial) of former President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was indicted as the 'leader of the rebellion', and the final sentence of the special investigation into the rebellion will be made. The Democratic Party of Korea, conscious of the public backlash caused by the push for a state investigation by Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, has taken steps to parallel the people's livelihood.

The issue that shook the ruling party the most was the criticism of writer Yoo Si-min's determination. When writer Yoo said on a YouTube broadcast, "He continues to isolate himself and dismantles his house like Yoon Seok-yeol," targeting President Lee Jae-myung's recent communication style and criticism of ruling party hardliners, a heated debate immediately broke out in major communities. On Pomppu, 'Ryu Si-min) The reason for the decline in the president's approval rating.jpg' (approximately 16,000 views), 'Breaking news) Real-time update on Yoo Si-min's influence' (approximately 15,000 views), '[Pump] Summary of writer Yoo Si-min's remarks today' (approximately 12,000 views), and 'Ryu Si-min) Park Seon-won must also change his attitude now' (8,704 views). It rose to the top, and pro-Russian bulletin boards such as Ddanzi Ilbo's 'Summary of writer Yoo Si-min's remarks today' (7,701 times), Clian's 'Ryu Si-min's assets are not 5 billion won' (5,809 times) and 'Ryu Si-min caught the eye today as expected' (4,522 times), Damoang (4,100 times), and 82 Cook (2,199 times) also agreed with writer Yu's diagnosis. The side that drew the line and the side that drew the line were in a tense conflict.

The ROK-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), which coordinates the timing of wartime operational control transition and the operation of US Forces Korea's defense budget and strategic assets, has been decided to be held early next year for the first time in 28 years. The two countries' defense ministries announced that they would hold a second meeting in the United States in December to continue discussions, but there were observations that differences of opinion over the conditions and timing of the transfer of wartime operational control were at play. To make matters worse, it became known that Rep. Jin Seong-jun of the Democratic Party of Korea, chairman of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, was denied a U.S. visa, and a debate broke out on online bulletin boards such as Pomppu ('This guy is also denied a U.S. visa haha', 6,364 times) over the successive cases of visa denials for ruling party lawmakers with past activist backgrounds.

There was news of large-scale disasters and energy crises overseas. In Spain, a large-scale collision occurred when a high-speed train following a stopped train in front was given a normal operation signal, and the death toll increased to 68, and two out of 10 Korean passengers were also injured. As a result, soccer schedules such as the Spanish King's Cup were postponed, players such as Lee Kang-in left messages of condolence, and real-time damage was shared on SLR Club ('Spanish high-speed train crash kills at least 64 people', 2,621 times) and DVDPrime ('Spain train crash kills more than 30 people', 2,416 times). Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Middle East war, European natural gas futures prices exceeded 100 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), soaring to the highest level in four years since the 2022 energy crisis (three times higher than before the war).