US stocks lead the way higher, and crypto assets follow: what is the real core of this rebound?

On July 21, global risk assets saw a clear round of recovery. All three major US stock indexes rose together: the Dow climbed 0.74%, the S&P 500 gained 0.89%, and the Nasdaq surged 1.29%. Among them, the semiconductor sector became the absolute main line. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 5.2% in a single day, and storage-related stocks such as Micron Technology, SanDisk, and Western Digital all rose by more than 12%.

On the surface, this looks like a technical rebound after consecutive declines, but behind it there are actually two funding logics.

The first is that AI trading is spreading again.

Previously, market funds were mainly concentrated in compute chips and large technology stocks; now they are starting to extend into storage, HBM, and data center infrastructure. Bank of America listed Micron as a key target in the AI memory direction, which also reflects that the market is beginning to realize: AI competition isn’t only about GPUs—it also lacks high-bandwidth memory and storage capacity. Micron rose 12.2% in a day, which looks more like funds are repricing the AI industry chain rather than just a typical oversold bounce.

The second is a warming outlook for crypto regulation.

The US crypto market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, has made progress in ethical clause negotiations, driving sharp gains for Coinbase and Circle. During the day, both stocks at one point surged into double digits; in the end, Coinbase closed up about 9.6% and Circle rose about 8.6%. This shows that the market is not trading short-term coin prices, but whether the US crypto industry can obtain a clearer regulatory framework going forward.

Crypto spot markets then followed suit, with Bitcoin returning to the vicinity of $66k. Compared with the stock market, the crypto market’s recovery has remained relatively mild, indicating that risk appetite is recovering but has not yet returned fully to a high-leverage phase.

Next comes the real test.

Companies such as Alphabet, Tesla, and Intel will soon release their earnings reports. The market needs to see that AI spending can continue to translate into revenue and cash flow. The European Central Bank’s July 23 interest rate decision will also affect the US dollar, bond yields, and global liquidity expectations. At present, markets broadly expect the ECB to keep interest rates unchanged for now.

So I believe this rally cannot be simply defined as a new round of a full-blown bull market—for now.

It is more like funds are testing three directions again: AI fundamentals, crypto regulation, and macro liquidity. US stocks rising first and crypto following through is a positive signal, but what ultimately determines whether the rebound can be sustained is still the earnings reports from the technology giants ahead, and whether institutional funds can keep flowing back continuously. #美光涨超12% #夏日创作营 @Gate 广场