India’s domestic sugar prices have jumped more than 15% in a month, with retail prices topping Rs 60 per kg and rising over 20% year on year. Flooding in some states and inadequate rainfall in others have reduced sugarcane harvests, tightening supply and pushing prices higher. In response, the government has approved duty-free imports of 1 million metric tons of raw sugar for the first time in nearly 10 years to help cool domestic prices.

Strategy raised about $2 billion last week by selling 18.26 million MSTR shares and repurchased about 1.43 million STRC preferred shares for $136.4 million. The company added $300 million to its US dollar reserve and placed the remaining proceeds into a newly launched US dollar cash account holding $1.59 billion. As of Sunday, the reserve stood at $5.1 billion, bringing total cash across the two pools to $6.69 billion. Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases or sales during the week, keeping its holdings at 840,447 BTC.

U.S. stock index futures traded lower in premarket action, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 EMini futures down 0.19% and 0.59%. Chip and tech sentiment was pressured after Samsung Electronics slid more than 8% in Seoul on disappointment over its shareholder return plan. Alibaba Group fell more than 8% in Hong Kong after raising HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion) to fund AI investments, while SoftBank Group dropped over 5% in Tokyo after outlining a record 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion) retail bond sale for AI funding.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.7%, with AI-themed stocks broadly under pressure as Fujikura, Advantest and SoftBank Group posted steep declines, while chip-equipment maker Tokyo Electron rose. South Korea’s KOSPI fell 3.1% led by a drop in Samsung Electronics, and China’s Alibaba slid sharply after a large share placement. Markets are watching Nvidia’s earnings and the Bank of Japan’s interest-rate policy.

Comstock has completed the sale of its mining assets to Mackay Precious Metals, valuing the transaction at more than $45 million. The company has received $20 million in cash and shares currently valued at about $4.5 million, with a secured second-tranche payment of $7 million due within 18 months. Comstock expects to record a gain of approximately $10 million to $12 million and will retain a 1.5% net smelter return royalty.

Goodyear reiterated the planned closure in its Aug. 5 second-quarter earnings announcement, saying the Fayetteville facility will be closed as part of a strategy to “align its footprint with its evolving product portfolio and improve the competitiveness of its manufacturing network in the Americas.” The company expects the action to improve Americas segment operating income by about $90 million in 2027 and approximately $270 million annually beginning in 2028, according to the earnings release.

Indian carmakers are posting strong sales growth, but profitability is weakening as costs rise. Maruti Suzuki recorded a June-quarter sales volume high, yet net profit fell 10.8% year on year and its EBITDA margin narrowed to 8.6% from 12.6%. Tata Motors’ passenger-vehicle revenue jumped 64.8%, but its EBITDA margin was 4.3%. Higher copper and aluminium prices and rising logistics expenses are continuing to squeeze manufacturers’ margins.

On-chain data show whale address 0x2160 is using a lending loop strategy to go long $BNB. The address withdrew 8,474 $BNB ($5.9M) from Binance and deposited it into Venus. It then borrowed 2.6M $USDT from Venus and sent the funds to Binance to buy more $BNB.