Breakfast | August 4, 2026

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high, the Nasdaq rose over 2%, Amazon closed up 4.6% with its stock gaining over 20% in two days post-earnings, SpaceX rebounded nearly 6% ahead of its earnings report, and Alibaba rose over 4%. Crude oil once fell more than 7%, while the yen rose over 1% against the U.S. dollar during the session.

Iran denied negotiations with the U.S., stating it is discussing Strait of Hormuz issues with Oman; Trump criticized Iran as "two-faced" and insisted that talks are ongoing, predicting the strait would reopen by Tuesday at the latest, and warned that if Iran does not reach an agreement or "surrender completely," the blockade will continue.

The third-ranking Federal Reserve Official stated that current interest rates are in a "good position" and expects inflation to cool in the second half of this year.

South Korea's KOSPI plummeted another 5%+, with Korean regulators planning to intervene to reduce leverage: the multiplier for single-stock leveraged ETFs may be directly cut to 1x. The head of the policy office at the South Korean Presidential Office faces criminal charges for hastily pushing for the listing of single-stock leveraged ETFs.

China's July RatingDog Manufacturing PMI was 50.9, marking eight consecutive months of expansion, with new export orders returning to expansion for the first time in three months.

Wu Qing: We are urgently advancing all preparatory work for including RMB stock trading counters and REITs in the Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

Alibaba released its most powerful Qwen model 3.8-MAX, featuring 2.4 trillion parameters, with performance comparable to Anthropic Fable 5 and outstanding long-range automatic programming capabilities.

Amazon's stock surged over 20% in two days following its earnings report, joining the $3 trillion market cap club for the first time. The head of AWS stated: "We are signing five-year long-term contracts with customers, and demand far exceeds supply."

Demand for AI software from government and corporate clients remains strong. Palantir's Q2 Earnings Beat expectations, with U.S. commercial revenue surging 149%, and the company raised its full-year revenue guidance. Its stock rose over 10% in after-hours trading.

The third-ranking Federal Reserve Official stated that current interest rates are in a "good position" and expects inflation to cool in the second half of this year.

China's July RatingDog Manufacturing PMI was 50.9, marking eight consecutive months of expansion, with new export orders returning to expansion for the first time in three months.

Wu Qing: We are urgently advancing all preparatory work for including RMB stock trading counters and REITs in the Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.