The Editorial Team - Financial Literature Asia (Page 2)

Policy rate and inflation across three regions

Real policy rates for the United States, the euro area and Korea from three sources — and the BIS axis that puts all three policy rates on one chart.

A balance beam tilted by two large blocks on one side and many small blocks on the other

🌏 KOSPI +4.61% — and in Tokyo more shares fell than rose

Seoul closed 4.61% up, five points short of 7,000. Tokyo's Nikkei rose 2.12% while 883 Prime shares fell and 630 rose. An index is a recipe.

Explainers

What is a base effect, and why can inflation jump when prices barely moved?

Korea's inflation rate rose to 3.1% largely because of a phone discount in August 2025. How base effects work, and the three checks that expose one.

A gold ring with a smaller red disc inside it, the gap between the two standing for what prices took

🌏 −3.6% — Japan's households cut spending for an eighth month

Real spending fell 3.6% in July, the steepest since January 2024. In yen it fell 1.5%. The gap is prices. Seoul closed up 1.64%, Tokyo up 1.26%.

Two gauge dials on a salmon ground: one needle teal above the midline, one brick below

🌏 KOSPI +0.26% — a 243-point swing that closed 17 points up

Seoul's 1% morning became a 1.9% afternoon loss and a flat close. The yen at a one-month high under 157 on BoJ hawks. China's two services surveys disagree

A brick-red oil drop beside three navy columns falling from a gold line: one shock, three markets

🌏 KOSPI −3.99% — the oil shock arrived through the bond market

Brent near $95 and a 4.81% US 10-year sent Seoul down 4%; Hong Kong closed flat. Korea's inflation: 3.1%, and 0.58 points of it is last year's phone bill.

Two columns on a salmon ground: a short faded one for a year ago and a tall one for now, the lower half of the tall column go

🌏 Exports +68.7% — one product is almost half the total

Korea's August exports hit $98.25bn, chips $46.65bn of it. Also: Japan's 10-year yield at 3% for the first time since 1996, and Vietnam's import cover.

Flat-vector scene: a navy horizontal line with red blocks below and teal blocks above, the last red block sitting just under

🌏 KOSPI +0.46% — the 3.6% fall that vanished by the close

Seoul opened sharply lower on Warsh and closed higher. Today: China's factory PMI at 49.8, what the 50 line really measures, and Singapore's currency band.

Explainers

What is the Bank of Korea's dot plot, and why does it matter more than the rate decision?

Seven rate-setters, three dots each, six months ahead. How to read the pile, the median and the shift, and what the dots are not.

Five blocks along a dashed gold line, four hugging it and the last falling below: a week's move made in one day

🌏 KOSPI −1.8% — a week's move, made in one day

Seoul fell 1.8% on Friday and sits 1.8% below last Friday: Monday to Thursday netted to nothing. Also: Tokyo's inflation preview and Thailand's reserves.

Five piles of dots on a rate axis, shifting rightward from hollow navy to gold — the Bank of Korea board's forecast moving up

🌏 BOK 3.00% — the decision was old news; the dots weren't

Korea's second straight hike; the KOSPI rose 1.5% on Nvidia anyway. Today: how to read a central-bank dot plot — and Jakarta's current-account gauge.

Flat-vector candlestick with a long lower wick recovering above a gold dashed line: a market day that fell hard and closed hi

🌏 KOSPI +0.68% — the close that hid a 4.3% fall

Seoul gapped down on New York's chip rout, touched 6,408, and closed near its high. Today: reading a daily candle — and Vietnam's FTSE countdown.