On Monday, there were renewed signs of easing tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Meanwhile, after the U.S. and Japan pledged to continue joint intervention to support the yen, investors are closely watching for signs of further intervention.
The U.S. Dollar Index ended its four-day losing streak, briefly returning to the 100 mark, and ultimately closed up 0.23% at 99.96; the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield closed at 4.681%; and the 2-year U.S. Treasury yield, which is sensitive to the Fed’s policy rate, closed at 4.246%.
Spot gold opened higher with a gap but gave up its gains, briefly falling below the $4,020 mark during the session before rallying again in late trading; it ultimately closed up 0.31% at $4,055.25 per ounce;Spot silver broke above the $58 mark and ultimately closed up 0.93% at $58.19 per ounce.
As the geopolitical risk premium rapidly subsided, international oil prices plummeted. WTI crude opened down more than 8%, then fluctuated within a narrow range before closing down 7.42% at $78.72 per barrel; Brent crude closed down 5.92% at $83.07 per barrel.
All three major U.S. stock indices closed higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.3% to a new closing high; the S&P 500 gained 1.48%, and the Nasdaq rose 2.1%.Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Google (GOOG.O) rose nearly 5%, while Tesla (TSLA.O) and Nvidia (NVDA.O) gained around 3%, and Meta (META.O) rose 6%.SanDisk (SNDK.O) rose 6%, while SK Hynix (SKHY.O) fell 0.7%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closed up 0.75%, with Alibaba (BABA.N) rising 4%. Amazon (AMZN.O) surpassed a market capitalization of $3 trillion for the first time.

Last Friday, Japan and the U.S. reportedly took coordinated action to curb the yen’s depreciation, causing the U.S. Dollar Index to reverse course in an inverted V-shape. It fell for the fourth consecutive trading day, ultimately closing down 0.2% at 99.7;The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield closed at 4.74%, having surged more than 30 basis points in July—the largest gain for that period since 2005; the 2-year U.S. Treasury yield, which is sensitive to the Fed’s policy rate, closed at 4.304%.
Spot gold fluctuated lower, approaching the $4,020 mark during the session, and ultimately closed down 1.48% at $4,042.67 per ounce, but recorded its first monthly gain since the outbreak of the Iran conflict in February;Spot silver briefly approached the $57 mark but ultimately closed down 2.29% at $57.66 per ounce.
International oil prices rebounded after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced it had struck and seized two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz that had violated the ban.WTI crude resumed its upward trend, ultimately closing up 2.88% at $85.03 per barrel; Brent crude retreated after touching the $89 mark during the session, ultimately closing up 1.63% at $89.29 per barrel.
All three major U.S. stock indices closed higher: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53%, the S&P 500 gained 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%.Tech and chip-related stocks saw mixed performance: Amazon (AMZN.O) closed up 15.32%, Google (GOOG.O) rose 6.73%, Nvidia (NVDA.O) gained 2.93%, Meta Platforms (META.O) rose 3.28%,Microsoft (MSFT.O) rose 3.02%. Apple (AAPL.O) fell 7.35%, and SpaceX (SPCX.O) fell 3.41%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 1.48%, with Alibaba (BABA.N) up 5.12%,Baidu (BIDU.O) rose 3.38%. Last month, the S&P 500 fell about 0.13%, the Nasdaq fell 3.2%, and the Dow rose 0.32%.

The hellish month of July finally came to a close with an epic rally.
If tech stocks in the first half of the year were rockets soaring to the skies, then July saw the market take a wild roller-coaster ride.This was not a correction in any single market, but a storm that swept from Wall Street to Seoul, and from Tokyo to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. To sum it up in one sentence:
The winners of the first half of the year collapsed en masse, while the losers sounded the trumpet for a comeback.
In July, global markets experienced a dramatic reversal, with Hong Kong stocks surging to the top as the best-performing market: the Hang Seng Index soared 13.13%, the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 11.20%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 7.98%, sweeping the top three spots globally.
Fund flows in July exhibited three distinct characteristics:
1. Extreme contrarian behavior: The deeper the decline, the more investors bought: The ChinaAMC STAR Market Semiconductor ETF, which fell more than 30%, saw monthly inflows of nearly 30 billion yuan, while the ChinaAMC STAR 50 ETF, down 26%, attracted over 40 billion yuan in inflows—the sharp market plunge was precisely the moment when ETF capital accelerated its entry.
2. Broad-Market Indices See Across-the-Board Inflows: The STAR 50 (67.78 billion yuan), CSI A500 (45.867 billion yuan), CSI 300 (45.410 billion yuan),CSI 1000 (45.181 billion yuan), and ChiNext Index (43.231 billion yuan) saw combined inflows of 247.4 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of the month’s total inflows and ending the six-month-long outflow trend for broad-based indices.
3. Certain low-valuation sectors gained favor: The securities companies index saw inflows exceeding 10 billion yuan in July, while the robotics sector (9 billion yuan), SGE Gold 9999 (6.5 billion yuan),Hong Kong Stock Connect Internet (6.4 billion), and Robotics (5 billion)
Meanwhile, previously popular sectors faced concentrated profit-taking: the Hang Seng Tech Index and Hong Kong Stock Connect Tech Index saw outflows of 10.8 billion and 9.2 billion, respectively, in July, and the Dividend Index also saw 2.4 billion in profit-taking after its rebound.

The U.S. Dollar Index weakened overall this week before stabilizing; it briefly touched a level near a six-week low during the session and stood at 100.18 at the time of writing. The dollar faced pressure primarily from uncertainty surrounding the Fed’s interest rate path and adjustments to market expectations regarding the policies of other major central banks. Meanwhile, the yen’s rapid rebound following suspected foreign exchange market intervention also dampened demand for the dollar.
Gold prices fluctuated this week. On the one hand, the market was supported by the dollar’s temporary weakness, geopolitical risks, and safe-haven demand; on the other hand, rising U.S. Treasury yields limited gold’s upside potential. Gold prices edged lower on Friday as investors took partial profits and the market reassessed the outlook for Federal Reserve policy.As of press time, spot gold was trading at $4,043 per ounce.
International oil prices retreated overall this week compared to previous levels, with both WTI and Brent crude posting significant declines; they are expected to close lower for the first time in four weeks.Previously, tensions in the Middle East and supply risks had kept oil prices elevated, but as conditions along some supply routes improved, the market refocused on inventories and the supply-demand balance.
Non-U.S. currencies found support overall this week, with the Japanese yen taking center stage.The USD/JPY pair fell sharply following what appeared to be coordinated intervention by Japan, the U.S., and South Korea, briefly dipping below 158 before recovering a small portion of its losses. The euro and British pound benefited overall from the dollar’s weakness, as the market continued to focus on the divergence in monetary policy between the European and U.S. central banks and the performance of economic data, with capital flows shifting partially from U.S. dollar-denominated assets to other major currencies.
In the stock market, South Korea’s stock market experienced sharp volatility this week. The KOSPI index initially plummeted due to valuation concerns in the AI sector and a sell-off in chip stocks, but then staged a historic rebound on Friday, rising approximately 17.9% in a single day and recouping some of its losses.The market turnaround was primarily driven by earnings reports from major tech companies like Microsoft, which alleviated concerns about an AI investment bubble and spurred a return of capital to the semiconductor sector. Samsung Electronics rose by about 28% in a single day, while SK Hynix gained 30%, becoming the core drivers of the index’s rebound.