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On Thursday at 20:30, the United States announced the retail sales data for June and the number of initial jobless claims for the week ending July 12.
Retail sales in the U.S. increased by 0.6% in June, the highest since March of this year, exceeding market expectations of 0.1%, with the previous value at -0.90%. The number of initial jobless claims for the week ending July 12 was recorded at 0.221 million, the lowest since the week ending April 12, 2025; the expectation was 0.235 million, with the previous value revised from 0.227 million to 0.228 million.
A strategy company focused on Ethereum reserves.$BTCS Inc (BTCS.US)$Pre-market trading rose over 18%, following the procedural vote on the cryptocurrency bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
$Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$U.S. stocks in pre-market trading rose over 3%, with Q2 revenue increasing by 38.6% and net income soaring 61%, exceeding expectations.
$Li Auto (LI.US)$Rose nearly 7%, the Li Xiang i8 is now open for reservations, with an expected price of 0.35 million to -0.4 million yuan.
Rare Earth Metals stocks.$MP Materials (MP.US)$Dropped nearly 5%, launching a public offering of ordinary shares worth 0.5 billion dollars.
Biotechnology company.$Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT.US)$Pre-market trading continues to rise nearly 29%, after announcing a Global Strategy for cost savings and providing regulatory solutions.
Online instant transaction platform for property in the United States.$Opendoor Technologies (OPEN.US)$In pre-market trading, the stock rose over 36%, surging more than 90% this week, with significant increases in discussions about Opendoor on various Social Media platforms.
$Abbott Laboratories (ABT.US)$In pre-market trading, the stock fell over 4%, with the company’s Q2 Net income and expected Q3 adjusted EPS falling short of market expectations.
$PepsiCo (PEP.US)$Pre-Market Trading rose over 3%, Q2 revenue of 22.726 billion USD, exceeding market expectations.
Global Macro
According to the Financial Times of the United Kingdom, two officials familiar with the negotiations stated that if the trade talks with the United States break down, the European Union is preparing a potential tariff list and export control measures against US services as one of the possible retaliatory measures. The European Commission is drafting this list of measures to respond to Trump’s tariff policy, which still needs to be submitted to the EU member states. In addition, EU countries are discussing a retaliation proposal against US commodities with an annual import value of 72 billion euros (including tariffs on Boeing airplanes, Cars, and bourbon whiskey), and the newly drafted list will further supplement this basis.
According to a report by CCTV news citing Reuters, U.S. President Trump stated on the 16th that the U.S. may implement the tariff rates on Japan as indicated in a previous letter and may soon reach a trade agreement with India. Trump recently wrote to Japanese leaders, stating that a 25% tariff will be imposed on goods imported from Japan starting August 1.
Is Powell’s departure a panacea? Institutions collectively criticized Trump, ‘If Powell is moved, the dollar will be done for!’
Deutsche Bank: If Powell is replaced, the trade-weighted dollar could plummet by 3%-4% within 24 hours, and the fixed income market will see a sell-off of 30-40 basis points.
JPMorgan: The continued independence of the Federal Reserve is absolutely crucial, as intervention in Federal Reserve decisions often leads to adverse consequences.
Investment bank Evercore: Firing Powell is “one of the worst ideas.” Countries’ economies that are subject to political manipulation typically perform poorly, as seen in Argentina and Turkey, which have both experienced double-digit inflation in recent years.
Wells Fargo & Co: The market’s dramatic reaction yesterday may have made the Trump administration realize that replacing Powell is not the “cure-all” for economic issues.
On Tuesday, conservatives ultimately made concessions under pressure from Trump. Trump supports digital assets and is promoting the upcoming vote as “Cryptocurrency Week.” Nevertheless, House leaders still had to extend procedural votes by several hours on Wednesday, continuing efforts to resolve the deadlock, breaking the longest voting record in House history.
Ultimately, enough conservative members, along with other Republicans, approved the procedural steps necessary to begin consideration of the Cryptocurrency bill. These cryptocurrency bills include stablecoin legislation passed by the Senate, which industry supporters hope will promote the wider use of dollar-denominated digital tokens.
The core of the “GENIUS Act” is to clarify the regulatory framework for stablecoins, which has currently passed the House debate and entered the formal review stage, expected to have its final vote on July 18; the core of the “CLARITY Act” is to clarify the classification of digital assets, regulatory division of responsibilities, and compliance paths, which has not yet passed House debate and will have its final vote in the House if it is successfully passed; the core of the “Anti-CBDC Surveillance National Act” is to prohibit the creation of central bank digital currency in the U.S., which has not yet passed House debate but has received a commitment to include the anti-CBDC provisions in the defense authorization bill.
On July 17, Huaxia Funds (Hong Kong) announced the establishment of two tokenized money market funds: Huaxia US Dollar Digital Currency Fund and Huaxia Renminbi Digital Currency Fund, priced in US dollars and Renminbi respectively. The Huaxia Renminbi Digital Currency Fund is the world’s first Renminbi tokenized fund.
From the product-related information, the underlying assets of tokenized Funds are consistent with those of traditional Funds, both being Bonds, money market instruments, and other securities assets, constrained by relevant legal and regulatory requirements. However, from an ownership perspective, unlike the centralized registration by Fund managers and the form in which investors hold Fund shares, tokenized Funds exist in the form of blockchain digital tokens, which can be verified in real-time on-chain. Their subscription and redemption can also be conducted on compliant virtual asset trading platforms, in addition to traditional Banks, securities firms, and third-party institutions.
The Ministry of Finance has adjusted the consumption tax policy for super luxury Cars, redefining the scope of super luxury Cars to include “passenger cars and light- and medium-sized commercial passenger vehicles with a retail price of 0.9 million yuan (excluding VAT) or higher of various power types (including pure electric, fuel cell, and other power types).”
Top 20 transactions in Pre-Market Trading.
Macro economic events reminder for U.S. Stocks.
(The following is in Beijing Time)
20:30 Number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending July 12 (10,000 persons)
20:30 US retail sales monthly rate for June
20:30 US Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for July
20:30 US import price index monthly rate for June
22:00 US NAHB housing market index for July
22:00 US business inventories monthly rate for May
22:30 US EIA natural gas inventory (billion cubic feet) for the week ending July 11
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