East Asia Econ

East Asia Today

The BOK meeting was the main event today. For releases across the region, it has been a quiet day. Taiwan's monitoring indicator in April stayed in the range that represents "economic boom". Export data for the first ten days of May in Japan were stable, but Toyota sales in April were weaker.

Paul Cavey

May 28, 2026 • 2 min read

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Korea – everything but a hike

The BOK didn't change rates today, but signalled that despite continued uncertainty, higher rates are coming. The pace will depend on dynamics in the energy and chip markets. I would also be watching for how core CPI performs against the BOK's modest forecast of 2.4%

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East Asia Today

Highlights of a longer note reviewing cycle developments in Korea before the BOK meeting, and from a short analysis of today's profits release in China. Also, charts on today's other releases: business confidence in Korea, consumer confidence in Taiwan, and services PPI in Japan.

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China – underlying profits a bit better

The bounce in headline profits in April was largely base effect, but there are signs of underlying improvement: revenues have started to rise, the increase in PPI is boosting profits in heavy industry, and hasn't yet derailed the post-2024 increase in total downstream manufacturing earnings.