Real-time News

July 29th - Despite some speculation that the Federal Reserve might unexpectedly raise interest rates on Wednesday, Fundstrat Global Advisors market strategist Tom Lee believes this is unlikely, primarily based on recent progress on inflation. The latest inflation data shows that housing costs and other key components are slowing, giving the Fed room to keep rates unchanged. Therefore, it would be surprising if the Fed, which always emphasizes data collection, concluded that inflationary pressures remain strong based solely on surface observations. Admittedly, inflation has not yet returned to 2%, but the impact of tariffs and rising oil prices are distorting these figures. However, the Fed may consider further reducing its asset holdings on its balance sheet.

TSMC (TSM.N): Raw material supply is normal.

On July 29th, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group (01093.HK) announced in Hong Kong that its Phase II clinical trial (SYH2062-003) for the treatment of essential hypertension in adults, developed by the Group, has been officially launched at its first center in China. This product specifically silences the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene, inhibits the expression of the corresponding protein, and alleviates excessive activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAAS), thereby exerting an effective pathway inhibition and long-term blood pressure control effect.

On July 29, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group (01093.HK) announced in Hong Kong that CRB-701 (SYS6002), which the Group licensed to Corbus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for development, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to initiate a registration clinical trial (trial code: TEMPO-1) for second-line treatment of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

Italian oil company Eni: Refineries will operate at maximum capacity in the third quarter.

US President Trump: Iran’s attack yesterday was unexpected. Our forces had only minutes to intercept the Iranian missiles.

The CEO of Italian oil company Eni said: "We are having very good negotiations with Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA and potential US partners."

European natural gas prices rose as much as 5.7% due to comments made by US President Trump regarding Iran.

US President Trump: The US and Saudi Arabia's strikes were coordinated with the Iraqi government.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures turned lower.

July 29th - JPMorgan Chase predicts the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged. The baseline scenario is "maintaining rates but with a hawkish stance" (50% probability), which would leave the S&P 500 roughly flat or down 0.5%. The most favorable scenario is "maintaining rates but with a dovish stance" (28% probability), which could push the index up by as much as 1%. A 25 basis point rate hike (20% probability) could cause the S&P 500 to fall by 1.5% to 2%, with the Nasdaq likely to perform relatively weakly.

On July 29th, the General Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government issued the "Implementation Plan on Accelerating the Development of New-Quality Productivity and Further Cultivating and Strengthening Strategic Emerging Industry Clusters and Future Industries." The plan proposes strengthening the research and application of general and vertical models, edge models, physical AI models, and high-performance intelligent agents, and cultivating and gathering a group of industry application service providers and intelligent native enterprises. It promotes the high-level application of artificial intelligence across all domains, all times, and all industries, accelerating the deep application and integrated innovation of artificial intelligence in scientific research, industrial development, consumption improvement, people's well-being, and governance capabilities. It leverages the role of the National Artificial Intelligence Application Pilot Base (Mobile Terminal Direction) and the Industrial Intelligent Agent Innovation Center to accelerate the deep integration of artificial intelligence technology with the entire process and all elements of manufacturing. It implements the pilot work plan for new technological transformation of manufacturing cities, promotes technological transformation in key industry enterprises, and creates a number of excellent benchmarks and cases.

On July 29th, the General Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government issued the "Implementation Plan on Accelerating the Development of New-Quality Productivity and Further Cultivating and Strengthening Strategic Emerging Industry Clusters and Future Industries." The plan proposes to enhance the "depth" of the global market by using high-quality intelligent manufacturing and brand building as engines. It calls for accelerating the integration and product innovation of artificial intelligence with technologies such as low-altitude flight, additive manufacturing, and brain-computer interfaces, enriching the development of AI terminal products such as AI mobile phones, AI glasses, and smart wearables. It also emphasizes accelerating the innovative application of advanced quality technologies to promote a leap in the quality of key products. Furthermore, it aims to promote the formation of more national and international standards in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, the low-altitude economy, and autonomous driving.

July 29th - Recently, the General Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government issued the "Implementation Plan on Accelerating the Development of New-Quality Productive Forces and Further Cultivating and Strengthening Strategic Emerging Industry Clusters and Future Industries." The plan proposes that by 2030, the city's strategic emerging industry clusters will have grown significantly, future industries will have taken shape, technological innovation and industrial innovation will be deeply integrated, and the manufacturing industry will accelerate its upgrading towards high-end, intelligent, and green development. Significant progress will be made in building a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone. The added value of strategic emerging industries will reach 2.3 trillion yuan, accounting for 45% of the regional GDP.

According to Japanese media: A magnitude 4 earthquake struck the Kumamoto region of Kumamoto Prefecture.

The French government has ordered a Russian television commentator to leave the country.

Taiwan Stock Exchange: The fundamentals of the Taiwan stock market remain stable.

On July 29th, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Microsoft (MSFT.O) to examine whether it misled users into paying higher software subscription fees after integrating the Copilot AI feature into Microsoft 365. The CMA stated that the investigation focuses on whether Microsoft clearly explained the changes to the subscription plan and the price increase due to new features like Copilot to users before subscription renewals for Microsoft 365 (which includes office software such as Word, Excel, and Outlook). According to the CMA, Microsoft offered the Copilot feature to existing users for free last year, but automatically switched them to a more expensive new plan upon subscription renewal. Unless users actively switched to another plan or cancelled their subscription, they would pay higher fees. Currently, the CMA has not found any illegal behavior on Microsoft's part. If found to have violated consumer protection regulations, Microsoft could face a fine of up to 10% of its global revenue.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Visa (VN) to $416.00, up from $415.00 previously.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target for PayPal (PYPL.O) from $34.00 to $45.00.