The Korea Times reported Oct. 31 that multiple South Korean local governments are bidding to host new prisons to attract population inflows, create jobs and stimulate local economies. The Ministry of Justice in August opened a nationwide public tender to site four new prisons; seven counties and cities in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Chungcheongbuk-do and Gangwon-do are competing. Each facility is planned to hold about 1,000 inmates and employ roughly 250 staff.

Egyptian cabinet says the WBG will sign a USD 1 bln agreement with Egypt to finance the second phase of its development program.

Analyst John Butters says through Q3 to date five of the Big Seven tech stocks have EPS growth trailing the rest of the S&P 500. With NVIDIA and Apple yet to report, the seven’s aggregate EPS growth estimate has slid to 22.6% from 33.6% a month ago, versus 32.6% for the other 493 S&P constituents. That would be the first quarter since Q4 2022 that the Big Seven’s profit growth lags the broader index; analysts expect the trend to continue into Q4.