※ Global Morning Briefing is Seoul Economic Daily's roundup of international news.
Pepper Spray Demand Up Tenfold, Yields at 5% — France on Edge
France was gripped by deep anxiety ahead of a second round of mass protests on the 24th. Paris shopkeepers, shaken by violence during the first round, armed themselves with pepper spray, while government bond yields surged to their highest level since 2002.
The protests are part of a nationwide movement against deteriorating conditions in education and rising living costs. Student groups, the "yellow vest" activists who led the anti-establishment protests of 2018 and major labor unions have all called for participation. The first round, which began on the 17th, drew more than 550,000 people, with more than 2,700 detained. More than 1,000 police officers were injured and more than 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted.
Yves Goletty, who runs a gun shop in Paris, said demand for pepper spray had risen to eight to 10 times normal levels. He said many customers worried that looters would target their homes. Art Basel Paris ended its run early on the 23rd, and major museums including the Louvre closed on the 24th.
The government has opted for a hard line. President Emmanuel Macron said that only officially sanctioned union rallies would be permitted on the 24th and that police deployment would be increased by 20% from the previous weekend. Marylise Leon, secretary general of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), countered that the measures would do little to calm public anger.
Financial markets were also rattled. On the 22nd, France's 10-year government bond yield rose to 5.06%, exceeding the U.S. yield of 4.95% for the first time in 13 years, and touched 5.1415% intraday. The two-year yield climbed 11 basis points to 3.86%. The spread between Belgian and German government bonds also widened to 110 basis points, the widest since 2012, leaving markets watching for any intervention by the European Central Bank.
Big Tech's AI Spending Shifts From Technology Race to Funding War
As competition over AI investment intensifies, Big Tech has moved beyond a contest over technology into a battle to secure funding. Meta's disclosure of its commitments has heightened concerns about financial strain, but the companies say they cannot afford to slow their fundraising.
Capital spending at Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Oracle is projected to reach about $945.5 billion by January next year, roughly six times the level of January 2023, Reuters reported on the 22nd. Over the same period, their combined free cash flow is expected to swing from a surplus of $223.1 billion to a deficit of $2.8 billion.
Meta said the same day that it had committed about $825 billion to AI infrastructure. Of that, $355.7 billion consists of leases not recorded on its balance sheet, while $454.5 billion covers separate short- and long-term contracts, including non-cancelable cloud agreements. The figure is $125 billion higher than the $700 billion disclosed at the end of July, an increase over just three months. Immediately after the announcement, Meta's credit default swap premium rose 8.9 basis points to 119.3 basis points. Meta plans to raise funds by issuing non-voting Class C common shares in January.
Anthropic is preparing to file a securities registration statement as early as the end of this month, with a listing targeted for the middle of next month. It spent $9 billion in the first half of this year alone, and its future contractual obligations total $450 billion. OpenAI is expected to press ahead with a listing even after lowering its valuation target to $1.25 trillion from $1.4 trillion.
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said at the company's GTC 2026 event that the obstacle to expanding investment was funding rather than demand. The industry is seeking to draw more capital from private markets while hoping for an expansion of the Trump administration's data center support program, announced in July last year, which includes loan guarantees and tax benefits.
U.S. Housing Market Freezes as Mortgage Rates Top 7%, Contracts at 25-Year Low
The U.S. housing market has frozen under mortgage rates above 7%, with both transactions and housing starts declining. With midterm elections set for the 3rd of next month, housing costs have emerged as a factor that could sway voters.
In Bergen County, New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan, for-sale signs have noticeably thinned. The decline follows a sharp rise in interest rates compounded by the relocation of Samsung Electronics' U.S. subsidiary. Jay Lee, a local broker, said demand from people moving to the area had slowed and that sellers were lowering asking prices. He added that more buyers were switching to five- to seven-year loans in hopes of refinancing later.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage stood at 7.40% on the 15th, the highest since November 2023, according to Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage company. The rate eased to 7.32% on the 22nd but remained above the 5.98% recorded on Feb. 27, just before the war in Iran.
The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for September, a leading indicator, plunged 7.3% from the previous month to 66, the lowest since the series began in 2001. The National Association of Home Builders' housing market index for October was 29, the lowest since June 2012, with 43% of builders reporting price cuts. Housing starts in September fell 5.2% to 1.221 million units. A Redfin survey found sellers outnumbered buyers by 62.6%, the widest gap since 2013, with the figure reaching 130% to 160% in Miami, Nashville, Houston and Austin. Conditions favor buyers, yet interest costs are keeping them out of the market.
Monthly payments for a buyer of a $450,000 home have risen $300 since the start of the year, according to CNBC. President Donald Trump signed an executive order the same day to ease mortgage insurance costs and expand the supply of manufactured homes.
Musk's Ambition for a Fourth Carrier: Talks Begin on 80,000 Cell Sites
SpaceX has entered negotiations to secure at least 80,000 cell tower sites across the United States, aiming to become the fourth major U.S. mobile carrier. Tesla, which is pursuing a merger with SpaceX, moved in the opposite direction over the same period, scrapping plans to launch the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand.
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, is in talks with telecommunications infrastructure companies over site access, Bloomberg reported on the 22nd, citing people familiar with the matter. The 80,000 target is about half the 158,500 cell sites operating in the United States last year. Crown Castle, which operates roughly 40,000 mobile towers, is among the companies in the talks. Carriers typically lease space from infrastructure operators rather than owning tower equipment outright, making site access a critical hurdle.
SpaceX has already completed much of the groundwork. It has secured low-band spectrum and won approval to launch 15,000 satellites capable of connecting directly to ordinary mobile phones. With ground-based cell sites in place, it could offer packages combining Starlink satellite service. Musk said on a recent earnings call that the company intended to build out broad networks in every market where it is permitted to operate. Investment bank TD Cowen, however, estimates the required cost at more than $80 billion, and delivering service quality stable enough to compete with established carriers remains a challenge.
Tesla, meanwhile, will refund deposits in full to Cybertruck reservation holders in Australia and New Zealand. As compensation, it is offering one year of supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) free to customers placing new orders for the Model 3 or Model Y. With the merger of the two companies now formalized, the market is watching whether the move signals a contraction of the business at Tesla, the smaller of the two by market capitalization.
