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The Nikkei 225 index has just broken through the 65,400.00 mark, currently trading at 65,393.15, up 0.61% on the day.

[South Korea's KOSPI surges 100% this year, surpassing the dot-com bubble era, but the market says demand structure has changed] (1) South Korea's KOSPI index has risen 100% this year, surging from 5,000 points to 8,000 points, driven by SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, exceeding the historical surge before the dot-com bubble and during the industrial boom of the late 1980s. (2) Before the year is even halfway over, KOSPI's performance is comparable to the 102% rise of the Nasdaq 100 index in 1999 (before the dot-com bubble burst). (3) However, few market observers have issued warnings. They believe that global demand for memory chips is undergoing a structural change—shifting from cyclical fluctuations to a more sustainable growth trend.

The Nikkei 225 index has just broken through the 65,500.00 mark, currently trading at 65,506.82, up 0.79% on the day.

【European car sales rose 7% in April, with BYD and Chery expanding strongly】 (1) Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association shows that new car registrations in the EU, UK and EFTA regions rose 7% in April, reaching 1.152 million vehicles; cumulative registrations from January to April increased by 4.8% year-on-year. (2) Sales of electric vehicles (pure electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid) increased by about 21%, accounting for more than two-thirds of total registrations; sales of gasoline and diesel vehicles declined by about 15% and 17% respectively, indicating that policy support and rising fuel prices have driven consumers to switch to low-emission vehicles. (3) Tesla's registrations in April increased by 46.5% to 10,654 vehicles, continuing its recovery; however, BYD's registrations surged by 114.5% to 27,008 vehicles, continuing to lead. (4) Chinese automaker Chery expanded rapidly, with registrations increasing by about 322%; traditional automakers showed mixed performance: Volkswagen +3.5%, Stellantis +6.7%, BMW +2.4%, Mercedes-Benz +7%, Renault -3.6%. (5) The markets with the strongest performance of pure electric vehicles in the first four months were Italy (+73%), France (+48%) and Germany (+41%).

[India Tests Critical Software to Address Potential Vulnerabilities in Anthropic AI Model Mythos] (1) Indian officials revealed that India is testing some public-facing financial and government applications to assess their potential vulnerabilities to Anthropic's next-generation AI model, Mythos. (2) Indian tech giants such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services are testing their software's vulnerability to Mythos in secure environments; the national cybersecurity agency CERT-In is also testing critical digital infrastructure such as the Aadhaar national identity system and government login systems. (3) Since they have not yet obtained access to Mythos, these companies are using the Anthropic Claude Opus 4.7 model to patch the vulnerabilities. The Reserve Bank of India has convened several bank meetings to warn of the risks associated with Mythos. (4) Last month, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that India is closely monitoring the potential threat of Mythos and has asked banks to strengthen their vigilance to ensure the security of IT systems, customer data, and financial resources.

[ANZ: Australian Inflation Lower Than Expected, Businesses Face Difficulty Passing Costs On, Interest Rates Expected to Remain Unchanged at 4.35%] (1) ANZ economists say that Australia’s overall inflation rate rose only 0.35% in April, lower than expected, suggesting that businesses may find it difficult to quickly pass on higher costs to consumers. (2) They see little evidence of a sharp rise in purchasing prices as shown in recent business surveys, and remain relatively optimistic about the overall situation, although they expect prices in more spending categories to rise in the coming months. (3) Economists point out that the cut-off mean inflation is only slightly above the upper limit of the RBA’s target range, and therefore expect the overnight cash rate to remain unchanged at 4.35%.