Global TradFi & Macroeconomics

According to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, crude oil imports grew 5.9% year-on-year in June, while total petroleum product sales declined 7.9% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline sales fell 7.1% and kerosene sales dropped 14.9% year-on-year.

The Hang Seng Index declined 28 points to close at 25,830 on July 31, retreating after four consecutive daily gains, as Hong Kong stocks failed to follow regional gains. The index opened 21 points lower at 25,837,

According to Yonhap Infomax, LG Chem posted Q2 2026 operating profit of 599.6 billion won on July 31, exceeding analyst consensus expectations of 410 billion won and marking a swing to profitability from the prior quarter's 49.7 billion won loss. The company's Q2 revenue reached 14.18 trillion won,

Hang Lung Properties reported mid-year earnings for the period ended June 30, with shareholders' profit of HK$758 million, down 16.89% year-over-year. The company maintained its interim dividend at HK$0.12 per share. Revenue grew 23.05% to HK$6.113 billion, while property rental operating profit

According to Yonhap Infomax, South Korea's government bond yields declined across all maturities on July 31 morning. The 3-year benchmark rate fell 5.2 basis points to 3.775%, the 10-year rate dropped 6.6bp to 4.245%, and the 30-year rate declined 5.7bp to 4.475%. The decline was driven by the gover

The Federal Reserve under Chair Kevin Warsh has discontinued forward guidance and Warsh himself has refused to submit his own dot plot projections, marking a significant retreat from the transparency practices established after the 2008 financial crisis. Warsh stated at a recent congressional

According to ChainCatcher, Bitfire Group Chief Economist Fu Peng said Bitcoin and other liquid-end assets may complete their valuation correction before the broader stock market. Peng noted that AI infrastructure, represented by Nvidia, has entered a mature phase, while downstream applications

According to Barron's, Nvidia rose 2.7% to $195.04 on July 30, leading a broad rally in semiconductor stocks. Intel climbed 11.3% and AMD advanced 13%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 8%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.8%. The rebound followed a shift in market sentiment around

POSCO Argentina's lithium business recorded 11 billion won in operating profit in Q2, marking its first quarterly profit since operations began. The achievement follows the March milestone of first monthly operating profit at the 25,000-ton annual capacity Phase 1 plant completed in 2024. The

According to POSCO Holdings, the company's Argentina subsidiary recorded its first quarterly operating profit of 11 billion won on sales of 108 billion won in the second quarter of 2026, marking a turnaround from the 25,000-ton-per-year lithium brine facility that commenced operations in

According to Seoul Economics, SK Hynix cannot announce specific shareholder return measures until August 5 due to legal restrictions tied to its U.S. ADR listing. The company's ADR prospectus distribution period, which lasts 25 days from listing, prevents disclosure of major corporate actions like s

According to Jin10, on July 31, China's domestic gold jewelry prices held largely stable compared to the previous day, with most brands quoting 1,238 yuan per gram for fine gold.

Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital, forecasts US long-term interest rates could rise to the mid-5% range by the September Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. He provided this outlook in an interview with CNBC on the 30th (local time), following the Federal Reserve's decision to

According to Capitec Economics, as reported by Jin10, the firm has cancelled its forecast for a further rate hike from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in August, citing this week's second-quarter CPI data as sufficiently moderate to convince the RBA that policy is already sufficiently

According to Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital, in a CNBC interview on July 30, U.S. long-term yields could rise to the mid-5% range before the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate target at 3.50%-3.75% on July 30, though three

According to Masato Koike, senior economist at Sompo Institute Plus, the Bank of Japan's statement on July 31 showed a hawkish tone, particularly regarding inflation and the 2% target. The central bank's language indicated inflation is "approaching 2%" and emphasized the importance of confirming sta

According to Gate data, the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index rose more than 5% on July 31.

According to BlockBeats, on July 31, the ChiNext Index surged 5.04% and the Sci-Tech 50 Index rose 5.91%, leading a broad rally in China's AI hardware sector. Long Xin briefly exceeded 4 trillion yuan in market cap, gaining over 14% to 60.49 yuan, marking a new all-time high. Memory chip stocks,

According to Trader T data, Ethereum spot ETFs saw net inflows of $7.39 million yesterday (July 30), reversing the previous day's $18.6 million in outflows. BlackRock's ETHA led with $16.24 million in inflows, while Grayscale's ETHE saw the largest outflow at $1.55 million.