U.S. Treasury Reportedly Intervenes in Yen; Nuclear Power Giant Starts IPO: Global Markets
The dramatic July trading month ended with Friday’s U.S. market close. The “AI trade,” led by South Korea’s market, suffered a sharp setback over the past month. By contrast, the Hang Seng Index rose more than 13% in July, leading major global indexes, while the U.S.-listed Chinese-stock index posted a five-session winning streak and gained more than 8% for the week. Elon Musk was described as the biggest loser among global investors in July. His net worth has fallen to about $680 billion, implying a loss of more than $600 billion in just over a month. SpaceX, the aerospace company under his control, is scheduled to report its first results after going public next week and will also face its first lockup-expiration wave. Commodity-market moves remained closely tied to the situation in the Middle East. International oil prices rose more than 20% in July. After U.S. markets closed Friday, U.S. media outlets, citing American officials, reported that President Donald Trump had ordered a new round of attacks on Iran. The operation could begin as early as this weekend and last for several days. An Iranian official later said Iran had drawn up a comprehensive plan that includes attacks on critical infrastructure in Israel and U.S. energy infrastructure in the region. Iran, the official said, was fully prepared. U.S. Treasury reportedly intervenes in yen The latest reports said the U.S. Treasury intervened in the yen exchange rate on Friday. A representative of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reportedly took the unusual step of selling euros to buy yen on behalf of the Treasury. The United States has intervened in Japan’s foreign-exchange market in 1998 and 2011. The intraday chart showed several sharp moves in the dollar-yen exchange rate over the previous day that appeared highly likely to be intervention-related. The source identified the minute chart as coming from TradingView. Separately, an analysis based on Bank of Japan data suggested that the Japanese government may have intervened in the foreign-exchange market again on Thursday. The reported size was about ¥8.45 trillion, or approximately $52.8 billion. Warsh reportedly considers reducing Fed meeting frequency Reports on Friday said Fed Chair Warsh had proposed reducing the frequency of the Federal Reserve’s policy meetings at this week’s meeting. The reports said the impression was that a revised meeting schedule could be finalized before the next meeting in mid-September. The Federal Reserve currently holds a policy meeting every six weeks, for a total of eight meetings a year. The U.S. Banking Act, however, sets a statutory minimum of four meetings annually. Microsoft, Amazon and Google add nearly $1.5 trillion in market value Microsoft and Amazon surged after reporting results this week, helping Google rebound after weakening following the prior week’s earnings reports. The three global cloud-computing giants added nearly $1.5 trillion in market value during the week. Microsoft accounted for $616.5 billion of the increase, while Amazon and Google added $425.6 billion and nearly $445 billion, respectively. Amazon completes $50 billion OpenAI investment A regulatory filing submitted by Amazon on Friday said the company had completed its committed $50 billion investment in OpenAI. Amazon announced the investment at the end of February, initially putting in only $15 billion. The remaining $35 billion had originally been scheduled to be injected after OpenAI went public or reached specified milestones. The filing said Amazon invested $13.7 billion in the second quarter and added another $21.3 billion after the end of June. Amazon did not disclose why it completed the entire investment ahead of schedule. IBM CEO says quantum computing could contribute measurable profit in 2028-2029 IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said Friday that the company’s quantum-computing business is expected to begin having a “measurable impact” on earnings in 2028 or 2029. IBM is accelerating the commercialization of quantum computing and plans to invest more than $10 billion over the next five years in related research and development, manufacturing expansion, ecosystem development and acquisitions. The company’s previously announced road map set a goal of introducing its first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in 2029. Spider-Man preview screenings break North American record According to box-office figures, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios’ jointly produced superhero film “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” had generated $72 million from early screenings and previews, setting a historical record for Hollywood films. The previous record-holder was 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which generated $60 million from previews before its opening weekend. U.S. nuclear power giant starts IPO The source lists a report that a U.S. nuclear-power giant has started an IPO but provides no further details. FIFA considers evaluating a 64-team 2030 World Cup According to recently leaked documents, FIFA is studying whether to expand the 2030 World Cup from 48 teams to 64. If adopted, the tournament would add 16 teams on top of the expansion to 48 teams planned for 2026. FIFA plans to commission an independent organization to evaluate the proposal.
Elon Musk was described as the biggest loser among global investors in July. His net worth has fallen to about $680 billion, implying a loss of more than $600 billion in just over a month. SpaceX, the aerospace company under his control, is scheduled to report its first results after going public next week and will also face its first lockup-expiration wave.
Commodity-market moves remained closely tied to the situation in the Middle East. International oil prices rose more than 20% in July.
After U.S. markets closed Friday, U.S. media outlets, citing American officials, reported that President Donald Trump had ordered a new round of attacks on Iran. The operation could begin as early as this weekend and last for several days.
An Iranian official later said Iran had drawn up a comprehensive plan that includes attacks on critical infrastructure in Israel and U.S. energy infrastructure in the region. Iran, the official said, was fully prepared.
U.S. Treasury reportedly intervenes in yen
The latest reports said the U.S. Treasury intervened in the yen exchange rate on Friday. A representative of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reportedly took the unusual step of selling euros to buy yen on behalf of the Treasury. The United States has intervened in Japan’s foreign-exchange market in 1998 and 2011.
The intraday chart showed several sharp moves in the dollar-yen exchange rate over the previous day that appeared highly likely to be intervention-related. The source identified the minute chart as coming from TradingView.
Separately, an analysis based on Bank of Japan data suggested that the Japanese government may have intervened in the foreign-exchange market again on Thursday. The reported size was about ¥8.45 trillion, or approximately $52.8 billion.
Warsh reportedly considers reducing Fed meeting frequency
Reports on Friday said Fed Chair Warsh had proposed reducing the frequency of the Federal Reserve’s policy meetings at this week’s meeting. The reports said the impression was that a revised meeting schedule could be finalized before the next meeting in mid-September.
The Federal Reserve currently holds a policy meeting every six weeks, for a total of eight meetings a year. The U.S. Banking Act, however, sets a statutory minimum of four meetings annually.
Microsoft, Amazon and Google add nearly $1.5 trillion in market value
Microsoft and Amazon surged after reporting results this week, helping Google rebound after weakening following the prior week’s earnings reports. The three global cloud-computing giants added nearly $1.5 trillion in market value during the week. Microsoft accounted for $616.5 billion of the increase, while Amazon and Google added $425.6 billion and nearly $445 billion, respectively.
Amazon completes $50 billion OpenAI investment
A regulatory filing submitted by Amazon on Friday said the company had completed its committed $50 billion investment in OpenAI. Amazon announced the investment at the end of February, initially putting in only $15 billion. The remaining $35 billion had originally been scheduled to be injected after OpenAI went public or reached specified milestones.
The filing said Amazon invested $13.7 billion in the second quarter and added another $21.3 billion after the end of June. Amazon did not disclose why it completed the entire investment ahead of schedule.
IBM CEO says quantum computing could contribute measurable profit in 2028-2029
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said Friday that the company’s quantum-computing business is expected to begin having a “measurable impact” on earnings in 2028 or 2029. IBM is accelerating the commercialization of quantum computing and plans to invest more than $10 billion over the next five years in related research and development, manufacturing expansion, ecosystem development and acquisitions.
The company’s previously announced road map set a goal of introducing its first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in 2029.
Spider-Man preview screenings break North American record
According to box-office figures, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios’ jointly produced superhero film “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” had generated $72 million from early screenings and previews, setting a historical record for Hollywood films. The previous record-holder was 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which generated $60 million from previews before its opening weekend.
U.S. nuclear power giant starts IPO
The source lists a report that a U.S. nuclear-power giant has started an IPO but provides no further details.
FIFA considers evaluating a 64-team 2030 World Cup
According to recently leaked documents, FIFA is studying whether to expand the 2030 World Cup from 48 teams to 64. If adopted, the tournament would add 16 teams on top of the expansion to 48 teams planned for 2026. FIFA plans to commission an independent organization to evaluate the proposal.