Wall Street Breakfast: Oil Rally, Chip Slump, and IPO Buzz on Aug 7
Brent crude oil rose more than 5% during trading on Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped its five-day winning streak. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite both declined for a second consecutive session. Storage chip makers SanDisk and Western Digital saw their shares drop nearly 7% and over 10%, respectively, following earnings reports that disappointed investors. In contrast, SpaceX shares gained over 6% on the day its lock-up period expired, defying expectations of a sell-off.
Iran and Oman have reportedly reached an agreement to bar ships belonging to hostile countries, including the United States and Israel, from passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media also claimed that Iranian forces struck enemy targets near the strait. US officials, however, have declared that they will not accept any obstruction to shipping routes in the region.
According to reports, Federal Reserve Governor Warsh is prepared to raise interest rates in September if inflation data for the coming weeks remains strong. This indicates a potential shift in monetary policy ahead of the next Fed meeting.
President Trump announced new tariffs on polysilicon and its derivative products, along with establishing minimum import prices. He also signed an executive order restricting birthright citizenship and announced a crackdown on 'birth tourism'.
South Korea is facing a regulatory storm over leveraged ETFs. Criminal complaints have been filed against both the chairman of the Financial Services Commission and the policy chief of the presidential office, highlighting heightened scrutiny on financial products.
Unitree Robotics, a Chinese robotics company, has set the IPO price at 150.8 yuan per share. Strategic investors include DeepSeek and Tencent, indicating strong interest from major tech players.
ByteDance is reportedly discussing the training of a model with over 5 trillion parameters, aiming to secure a leading position in artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, DeepSeek has officially announced a significant price increase for its API, reflecting higher demand or costs.
Alphabet has launched a $25 billion bond offering, which attracted over four times oversubscription. This demand exceeded that seen for recent bond sales by Amazon and SpaceX. In other news, OpenAI's smart speaker is reportedly priced above $300, and it features a 'donut' design by the 'father of iPhone design'.
Finally, a reminder: China's July import and export data will be released on Friday, providing insights into global trade dynamics.