China's National Bureau of Statistics said GDP grew 4.3% in Q2 and 4.7% in the first half to RMB 69,570.4 billion. June industrial value added for firms above designated size rose 5.3% year on year and 0.76% month on month. Per capita disposable income reached RMB 22,981, up 5.2% nominally.

Huo Xing Finance reports: U.S. inflation data for June surprised to the downside on July 15. Headline CPI slowed to 3.5% year over year, while core CPI eased to 2.6% year over year. The month-over-month print turned negative for the first time since 2020. The data prompted markets to scale back expectations for rate hikes by year-end. U.S. equities, gold, and crypto moved higher in tandem, with Bitcoin briefly nearing $65,000. If Bitcoin can hold above $64,000 on a sustained basis, the rebound could extend. The inflation cooling was driven largely by energy rather than broad demand weakness. Energy prices fell 5.7% on the month, and gasoline slid 9.7%, dragging down the overall CPI. Housing, food, and services continued to rise, suggesting underlying price pressures have moderated but not disappeared. With Middle East tensions still elevated, a renewed rise in energy costs could reaccelerate inflation in coming months. Markets are unlikely to price out an inflation rebound on the basis of a single release. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell kept his message unchanged in congressional testimony despite the softer CPI. He reiterated "zero tolerance" for persistent inflation and said interest rates and balance-sheet tools remain available. Powell also announced five research initiatives spanning AI, productivity, the balance sheet, and policy frameworks—signaling less reliance on forward guidance and a stronger tilt toward data-dependent adjustments, raising the stakes for each upcoming economic print. Geopolitical risk remains a key variable for inflation. The U.S. military has resumed maritime blockades against Iran, with both sides maintaining hardline rhetoric. Washington is also pushing to restart the Iraq–Syria oil pipeline to reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz. While this points to gradual diversification in energy supply routes, risk premiums are likely to stay elevated until alternatives are fully operational, adding uncertainty to the pace of disinflation. Japan also remains on investors' radar. USD/JPY has returned to 162, reviving debate over crowded yen carry trades. A Bank of Japan rate hike, FX intervention, or a weaker U.S. economy that pulls the dollar lower could trigger a rapid unwind, amplifying short-term volatility in global tech stocks and other risk assets. Overall, the CPI report has improved sentiment without fully clearing the risk outlook. Market focus now centers on three themes: whether inflation can keep easing even if energy prices rebound; whether the Fed sticks to a data-dependent framework; and whether Japanese capital flows are poised for a structural shift. With monetary policy, geopolitics, and global liquidity increasingly intertwined, volatility in risk assets is likely to remain elevated.

Stripe and private equity firm Advent International are reportedly exploring a $53 billion buyout of PayPal, in what would be the company's largest acquisition to date. Reuters reported the group has proposed $60.50 per share and lined up roughly $50 billion in financing. With both Stripe and PayPal expanding their stablecoin strategies, the potential deal is being closely watched for its implications for the next phase of digital payments.

The AI chip trade just delivered a sharp reality check. A broad selloff across semiconductors wiped out more than $1 trillion in combined market value, sending the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down about 10% as investors reassessed how much optimism had been priced in. The timing reflects a shift in the industry. Major tech companies began shipping a new wave of custom AI chips in late June and early July 2026, a signal that Nvidia's near-monopoly in AI compute is facing a more credible challenge than it has in years. The damage was widespread. Micron shed roughly $38 billion in market capitalization in a single session. Intel, already in the middle of a difficult restructuring, fell 21% over several days. Samsung reported an approximately 1,800% jump in Q2 2026 profit, yet its shares still declined as the broader semiconductor complex sold off. The pullback appears driven by two forces hitting at once. The first is valuation: AI infrastructure spending has surged, and investors are pressing for clarity on when that spending translates into durable returns. The second is structural: the competitive field in AI chips is getting noticeably more crowded. Custom silicon is increasingly at the center of that shift. Cerebras, known for producing some of the largest chips ever manufactured, said on July 8, 2026 that it is partnering with OpenAI to develop a chip aimed at challenging traditional GPU architectures. Amazon is also shipping its own AI accelerators, joining a growing group of companies opting to design in-house silicon rather than rely solely on Nvidia. SambaNova is part of the same wave. Nvidia is preparing its next major step with the Rubin platform, slated for 2026, an integrated architecture combining GPUs and CPUs. For investors, the rise of custom chips from Amazon, OpenAI and others increases the medium-term risk to Nvidia's pricing power, even if the company maintains a performance edge in the near term. Samsung's reaction stands out as well: the market's muted response to a nearly 1,800% profit surge suggests the stock is being driven more by macro sentiment than company fundamentals right now.

ChainThink report — July 15: Japan and South Korea's equity markets closed in positive territory, driven by strong performance in semiconductor names. Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1,008.01 points, or 1.49%, to finish at 68,751.51. Kioxia climbed 5.4%, while Ibiden advanced 7.7%. In South Korea, the KOSPI jumped 427.58 points, or 6.24%, to 7,284.41, and the KOSDAQ rose 5.79%. Among chip-related stocks, SK Hynix gained 8.8%, Samsung Electronics rose 6.2%, and Hana Microelectronics surged 29.8%.

Odaily Planet Daily reported that Seoul shares climbed back above the 7,000 level on Wednesday as risk appetite improved and overseas investors stepped up purchases, sending South Korea's KOSPI up more than 8% intraday. As of 2:30 p.m. local time, foreign investors had net bought KRW 2.4 trillion (about USD 16.1 billion) in equities, more than double the KRW 1 trillion recorded a day earlier. Institutions were net buyers of KRW 180 billion, though inflows cooled from Tuesday. Retail investors were the sole net sellers, unloading nearly KRW 2.5 trillion worth of stocks. (Jin10)

ASML, the critical supplier whose tools enable production of today's most advanced AI chips, reported second-quarter results that came in ahead of Wall Street expectations. Revenue exceeded the roughly $10.27–$10.28 billion consensus range, supported by strong demand for AI-capable semiconductors. The figure implies about 17.8% growth from the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share were projected at $7.94–$7.98, which would represent a 75% year-over-year increase, and ASML delivered above that range. ASML remains the only manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems—the equipment required to etch ultra-fine circuitry for leading-edge chips. Each EUV machine carries a price tag near $400 million. Without EUV, sub-5nm chips are not feasible, constraining next-generation AI GPUs from Nvidia, advanced processors from AMD and Intel, and the latest Bitcoin-mining ASICs. For Q1 2026, ASML reported net sales of about €8.8 billion. Following that performance, the company raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to €36–€40 billion, up from the prior €34–€39 billion range. Management tied the increase largely to rising orders for high-NA EUV systems, the newest iteration of its lithography technology. Why crypto investors are watching Bitcoin mining efficiency is closely linked to the sophistication of chips inside ASICs. More advanced lithography and smaller process nodes typically enable higher performance per watt, reducing energy consumed per hash. Decentralized compute projects such as Render and Akash also depend on GPUs produced using ASML-enabled manufacturing. As AI workloads increasingly shift toward decentralized infrastructure, constraints in supply and pricing for cutting-edge chips can become a bottleneck that ASML is uniquely positioned to ease. Stock moves and market backdrop ASML shares hit an all-time high near $1,749 earlier in 2026, lifting the company's market capitalization above $700 billion, before retreating in July ahead of earnings. The pre-earnings pullback tracked broader risk caution, including geopolitical concerns and export restrictions that limit sales of ASML's most advanced systems to certain markets, particularly China. For crypto-native investors, tokenized versions of ASML shares have also appeared on-chain, offering a pathway to semiconductor exposure within DeFi-oriented portfolios.

Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have reportedly submitted a joint proposal to acquire PayPal Holdings in a transaction valued at more than $53 billion. People familiar with the matter said the consortium offered $60.50 per share, about a 28% premium to PayPal's recent close. The bid, filed earlier this month, is backed by roughly $50 billion in committed bank financing. The latest approach follows an initial proposal made in early April. Sources said Stripe and Advent are awaiting a response from PayPal's board and aim to advance talks in the coming weeks. Under the reported structure, Stripe and Advent would each hold a 50% stake in PayPal, with no plan to break up the business. The reported interest comes as PayPal has posted solid performance. In the first quarter, the company reported revenue of $8.35 billion, above analysts' $8.05 billion estimate. Total payment volume rose 8% year over year on a currency-neutral basis to about $464 billion. PayPal has also been pursuing AI-driven operating improvements. Management has said it plans to streamline operations and reduce duplication, targeting about $1.5 billion in cost savings over the next two to three years, with the savings earmarked for reinvestment in growth initiatives. Stripe remains one of the most valuable privately held fintech firms. It was valued at about $159 billion in a February tender offer, reflecting a sharp rise in investor confidence over the past year. PayPal shares dipped in Monday's regular session, falling 0.59% to close at $47.37, according to Google Finance, before edging up about 0.06% in after-hours trading to $47.40. With the takeover price not yet reflected in trading, investors are expected to watch the next session closely for signs of a move toward the reported offer level.

DeepSeek, the China-based AI lab that rattled global tech markets after delivering a frontier model at a fraction of typical development costs, is reported to have reached an annualized revenue run rate of $400 million to $500 million. The range is about double the $200 million to $220 million run-rate estimates that circulated in 2025. Backed by quantitative hedge fund HighFlyer, DeepSeek has built much of its profile around open-source AI releases. Its R1 model, reportedly developed for about $6 million in January 2025, was described by some crypto analysts as an "iPhone moment" for AI agents. Earlier figures put DeepSeek's daily revenue at roughly $562,000, versus daily costs near $87,000, implying gross margins above 500%. In June 2026, the company raised more than $7.4 billion at a valuation above $50 billion. Crypto investors have been watching closely as DeepSeek's open-source lineup—including the R1, V3 and V4 series—adds pressure to global AI pricing. Lower inference costs reduce the expense of deploying AI agents, which can improve the economics for blockchain projects building agent-based infrastructure. The $400 million to $500 million figure comes with a key caveat: it reflects an annualized run rate, not audited annual revenue. Bloomberg and the Financial Times have reported that DeepSeek could pursue an IPO as early as 2027. At a valuation above $50 billion, the listing would rank among the most valuable AI-focused IPOs on record.