Wealthion Macro Bites 1-27-26
Voicing displeasure South Korea’s parliament has failed to enact the bilateral trade agreement Presidents Trump and Lee Jae Myung negotiated this past July (including $350B of Korean investments in the U.S.), Trump announced on Monday, “I am hereby increasing Sout Korean TARIFFS on Autos, Lumber, Pharma, and all other Reciprocal TARIFFS from 15% to 25% (sic).” South Korea’s Presidential Blue House announced Tuesday it was committed to implementing the deal and would continue to take the required steps to finalize it, but noted uncertainty over the pending Supreme Court tariff ruling could “affect the process.”
In Beijing’s ongoing effort to boost influence in global commodity markets, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced Friday that overseas investors will be allowed to trade 14 futures and options products on the Shanghai (esp. nickel) and Guangzhou (esp. lithium carbonate) Futures Exchanges.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) reports that EU sales of fully electric cars surpassed those of petrol vehicles for the first time in Dec. ’25. Total vehicle sales in the EU and U.K. rose 7.6% in Dec. (1.2M) and 2.4% in ’25 (13.3M). Dec. registrations of battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric cars rose y/y 51%, 36.7% and 5.8% respectively. During 2025, battery electric vehicles accounted for 17.4% of total registrations (up from 13.6% in ’24); plug-in hybrids 9.4% (from 7.2%; hybrid electric 34.5% (from 30.9%); petrol 26.6% (down from 33.3%); and diesel 8.9% (from 11.9%).
India and the EU struck a long-delayed deal on Tuesday to reduce tariffs on most goods, aiming to boost two-way trade and reduce reliance on the U.S. The EU will cut tariffs on 99.5% of Indian goods and India will cut tariffs on 96.6% of EU exports. The deal is expected to double EU exports to India by 2032 and lead to savings of $4.75B in duties for EU companies. In the fiscal year through March ’25, India/EU trade totaled $136.5B; India/U.S. trade totaled $132B; and India/China trade totaled $128B.
The proprietary Goldman Sachs investor risk appetite indicator touched 1.09 last week, highest since ’21 and in the 98th percentile of readings since 1991. There have been only 6 prior readings above 1.0 in the gauge’s history.
In Monday trading, spot silver touched $117.71/oz in U.S. trading (+14% on day) and the yuan equivalent of $134.2/oz in Shanghai trading before closing at $111.40. This morning, spot silver +7.5% and spot gold +1.55% (gold/silver ratio at 45.6). Euro Stoxx 50 +0.15%, S&P futures +0.2% and Nasdaq futures +0.55%.
