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British Prime Minister Burnham: There is unacceptable profiteering in the nursing sector. I believe there is still room for more work to be done in the nursing field within the current budget.

On July 29th, Peter Kinsella of UBS stated in a report that the yen's weakness is likely to continue, as the Bank of Japan is unlikely to make any major policy adjustments this Friday, nor will it signal an acceleration of its tightening pace. He noted that the yen's real interest rate (adjusted for inflation) remains in negative territory. "Unless the Bank of Japan makes a strong commitment to a significant rate hike, even if it intends to push the yen higher, we cannot foresee any appreciation." He believes investors should anticipate more threats from Japanese authorities to intervene to support the yen, but these pronouncements often prove empty rhetoric.

On July 29th, Berenberg Bank analyst Andrew Wishart noted in a report that the Bank of England is likely to maintain its key interest rate at 3.75% on Thursday. However, the central bank may warn of a potential rate hike if energy prices rise sharply or a second round of inflation occurs. However, this warning does not necessarily mean a rate hike is highly probable. He stated that the mere threat of a rate hike, coupled with rising oil prices, would be enough to push up interest rate expectations and mortgage costs, thereby reducing the risk of inflation. Instead, Wishart believes the Bank of England may actually resume rate cuts in December, subsequently lowering the policy rate to 3.0% by mid-2027. He pointed out that wage and service sector inflation are trending downwards, and US President Trump will want to avoid rising oil prices as the midterm elections approach.

Yemeni diplomatic missions: The Saudi-US attack on Iraq is a blatant violation of international law. Iraq and its people have the right to legitimately retaliate against this crime.

Russian Defense Ministry: Russian troops have taken control of Svetly and Novasich in eastern Ukraine.

According to Hong Kong Stock Exchange documents, Shenzhen YueShi Digital Technology Co., Ltd. has submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

On July 29, Zhu Anqing, spokesperson for the East China Sea Branch of the China Coast Guard, stated that on July 29, the Fujian Coast Guard conducted routine law enforcement patrols in the waters near Kinmen. Since July, the Fujian Coast Guard has organized naval fleets to continuously strengthen control over relevant sea areas, effectively safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests and the safety of life and property of fishermen on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and effectively ensuring normal navigation and operation order in the Xiamen-Kinmen waters.

Italy's average hourly wage rose 2.4% year-on-year in June, up from 2.40% previously.

Italy's average hourly wage rose 0.5% month-on-month in June, compared with 0.10% in the previous month.

July 29th Futures News: 1. Greige Fabric Inventory: On July 29th, greige fabric weaving inventory was approximately 32.8 days. Currently, greige fabric prices are unlikely to rise, and profit margins are being squeezed by raw material demand. Market sentiment is cautious, resulting in a slight increase in greige fabric inventory. 2. Loom Operating Rate: After downstream users replenished their stocks, many withdrew from the market to observe, leading to sluggish trading in the polyester filament market. The operating rate remained at 58.2% this week. 3. Greige Fabric/Fabric Trading: According to data monitoring and analysis from 350 price-collecting units, the Ministry of Commerce's China•Shengze Silk and Chemical Fiber Index rose slightly on July 29th. Among them, the chemical fiber fabric price index closed at 101.13 points, an increase of 0.03 compared to the previous trading day.

On July 29, the People's Bank of China and eight other departments jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Development and Utilization of Data in the Science and Technology Finance Sector." The Notice emphasizes strengthening the openness, sharing, and integrated application of data in the science and technology finance sector, supporting the standardized use of public science and technology data by science and technology information users, encouraging local governments to provide authorized open information channels to science and technology enterprises, and promoting models such as information retrieval and joint modeling. It also calls for pilot projects to innovate and develop a trustworthy data space for science and technology finance, encouraging qualified regions to strengthen the open utilization of enterprise revenue and expenditure data, building industry research information exchange platforms, and achieving cross-regional sharing and efficient connection of data resources in the science and technology finance sector. Furthermore, it supports market-oriented credit reporting agencies in building databases of science and technology enterprises, enriching the supply of credit reporting products and services.

The People's Bank of China and eight other departments jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Development and Utilization of Data in the Field of Science and Technology Finance." The notice states that...

July 29th - Data released by the Bank of England on Wednesday showed that the number of housing loans approved by banks and building societies rebounded to 58,200 in June after falling to a more than two-year low in May, exceeding economists' expectations of 57,100. However, this figure is still below the six-month average of 61,435. Analyst Justin Low pointed out that while strong consumer credit growth usually foreshadows a broad-based economic boom, the current situation may be different. Instead, it likely indicates that households are forced to borrow out of necessity. That is, as the cost of living continues to rise, households are forced to rely on credit cards and overdrafts to pay for basic daily expenses. In other words, this suggests that the lower and middle classes are depleting their cash savings and relying on high-interest debt, leading to economic strain. This view aligns with UK credit default data released earlier this month. A recent Bank of England survey showed that over the past three months, the proportion of lenders reporting an increase in default rates was 34% higher than the proportion reporting a decrease. This is a significant increase from approximately 18% in the first quarter and is the highest level since 2009, indicating serious trouble.

ECB Governing Council member Patsalides: On the issue of inflation, the passage of time is undoubtedly at our disadvantage.

On July 29th, the "Implementation Plan for Artificial Intelligence Empowering the Digital Transformation of Manufacturing in Zhejiang Province (2026-2030)" was issued, proposing to promote data governance and the construction of high-quality datasets. It supports enterprises in registering industrial data assets and industrial data intellectual property rights. It encourages enterprises with a digital transformation level of 2.0 or higher to build unified data management platforms and promote multi-source heterogeneous data modeling, analysis, classification, and hierarchical management. Focusing on key industry scenarios such as integrated circuits, apparel and textiles, consumer electronics, and modern home furnishings, it promotes collaborative data collection, processing, labeling, testing, and application across the industrial chain to build high-quality, reusable industry datasets. It also advances the pilot construction of product master data standards and high-quality industry datasets to accelerate the creation of a trusted industrial data space.

On July 29, Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), met with Slovak President Pellegrini in Beijing. Zhao stated that China is willing to work with Slovakia, guided by the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, to continuously enhance strategic mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as high-quality Belt and Road Initiative cooperation, trade and economic cooperation, artificial intelligence, and new energy, promote people-to-people exchanges, and jointly advance the high-level development of China-Slovakia relations. The NPC is willing to maintain close and friendly exchanges with the Slovak National Assembly, conduct exchanges of experience in legislation and oversight, and provide legal guarantees for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.

July 29th - The Bank of England is expected to assess its quantitative easing (QT) program at its policy meeting on Thursday. Quantitative easing refers to the process by which the central bank reduces its bond holdings purchased during the quantitative easing period. Ebury analyst Matthew Ryan noted in a report that the Bank of England's assessment of QT is unlikely to have a significant impact on UK assets, as investors are likely to focus on inflation guidance and the voting outcome of the interest rate decision. Ryan stated that if the vote remains unchanged at 7-2 and subsequent guidance downplays inflation risks, the market may lower its expectations for a Bank of England rate hike.

July 29 (Kyodo News) – The Japanese government announced on Wednesday that Japan's national population fell below 120 million for the first time in 42 years, dropping to 119,736,483 at the beginning of this year, highlighting the serious challenges the country faces in addressing its declining birth rate. According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, as of January 1, the number of Japanese citizens decreased by 917,000 from the previous year, the largest drop since comparable data became available in 1968. At the same time, the number of foreign residents increased by 354,000, reaching a record 4,031,159. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has been compiling these data since 2013. Faced with a labor shortage, Japan is gradually easing restrictions on the introduction of foreign workers. With more and more people coming to Japan in search of employment opportunities, the number of foreign residents has increased for the fourth consecutive year.