Overnight US stocks | The US launched a series of strikes against Iran, causing the three major indexes to fall, and storage chip stocks continued to decline.

On Tuesday, the three major indexes fell. After the closing of the US stock market, the US Central Command announced that US Central Command forces have begun a series of strong strikes against Iran in response to Iran's targeting and attacks on commercial shipping operated by civilian crews in international waterways. The US Central Command stated that the US strikes were in response to Iran's attacks on three commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, and stated that Iran's aggressive behavior was "unjustified, dangerous," and "clearly violated the ceasefire agreement." [US stocks] At the close, the Dow rose 155.84 points, or 0.29%, to 53055.91 points; the Nasdaq rose 288.49 points, or 1.12%, to 26121.16 points; the S&P 500 index rose 54.19 points, or 0.72%, to 7537.43 points. Storage chip stocks continued to fall, with SanDisk (SNDK.US) down 7%, Western Digital Corporation (WDC.US) down nearly 8%, and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) down 4.7%. SpaceX (SPCX.US) fell nearly 7%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index closed down 0.57%. [European stocks] The German DAX30 index fell 362.34 points, or 1.40%, to 25470.18 points; the UK FTSE 100 index rose 16.22 points, or 0.15%, to 10667.99 points; the French CAC40 index fell 43.63 points, or 0.51%, to 8436.24 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 79.26 points, or 1.24%, to 6318.75 points; the Spanish IBEX35 index fell 38.31 points, or 0.19%, to 19645.49 points; the Italian FTSE MIB index fell 475.64 points, or 0.90%, to 52483.50 points. [Asian stock market] The Nikkei 225 index fell 2.12%, and the South Korean composite stock price index fell 4.91%. [US Dollar Index] The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, rose 0.17% on the day and closed at 101.023 in the currency market. At the close of the New York currency market, 1 euro exchanged for 1.1419 US dollars, lower than the previous trading day's 1.1443 US dollars; 1 pound exchanged for 1.3363 US dollars, lower than the previous trading day's 1.3395 US dollars. 1 US dollar exchanged for 161.94 Japanese yen, lower than the previous trading day's 162.06 Japanese yen; 1 US dollar exchanged for 0.8076 Swiss francs, higher than the previous trading day's 0.8050 Swiss francs; 1 US dollar exchanged for 1.4195 Canadian dollars, lower than the previous trading day's 1.4209 Canadian dollars; 1 US dollar exchanged for 9.6784 Swedish kronor, higher than the previous trading day's 9.6255 Swedish kronor. [Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin fell more than 1.2% to $63,466, and Ethereum fell more than 1.7% to $1,775.52. [Crude oil] New York market August WTI futures prices rose 2.8% to settle at $70.44 per barrel; September Brent crude oil rose 3% to settle at $74.16 per barrel. After the settlement of crude oil futures, both Brent crude oil futures and WTI crude oil futures continued to rise by more than 3%. News said that the United States has revoked a general license allowing Iran to sell oil to foreign countries. [Precious Metals] Spot gold fell to $4106.6 per troy ounce; spot silver fell below $60 per troy ounce, to $59.962. [Macroeconomic News] The United States resumes sanctions on Iranian oil. According to the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control on July 7 local time, the United States revoked a general license that allowed Iran to sell oil, and related winding-up transactions will be allowed to continue until July 17 at midnight Eastern Time. As a result, international oil prices rose. Iran has not yet responded to this. According to anonymous US officials, preliminary signs show that "Iran has recently fired at three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz," this behavior is "completely unacceptable" and will bring about corresponding consequences. US officials also stated that despite the escalation of the situation, US negotiators "are still sincerely pushing forward to reach a final agreement with Iran." US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced on June 22 that as part of the framework for negotiations between the United States and Iran, the US Treasury Department issued a 60-day general license that authorizes the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian oil. According to a notice issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department on that day, transactions involving Iranian crude oil, petrochemicals, and petroleum products that were previously prohibited by several US executive orders and regulations were exempted, with a deadline until August 21, 2026. The US trade deficit expanded to its largest in over a year. The US trade deficit in May reached its largest since March 2025, due to a decline in exports and an increase in imports. Data released by the US Department of Commerce on Tuesday showed that the trade deficit in goods and services in May expanded by 42.2% from the previous month to $776 billion. Export volume in May declined by 3.2%, dragged down by a decrease in non-monetary gold exports. Import volume increased by 3.3%. In the months leading up to the expansion of the deficit, oil and petroleum product exports boosted by the Iran war had helped offset the continued surge in imports of capital goods related to the building of data centers in the country. The report shows continued growth in oil exports in May. Imports of computer parts and semiconductors rose again, while imports of computers and telecommunications equipment fell. Recent PMI surveys suggest that imports may also be boosted by US companies stockpiling goods ahead of potential supply chain disruptions and price hikes related to the war. The May trade data will help economists solidify their estimates of second-quarter GDP. [Stock News] Meta (META.US) launches AI image generation model in chat Siasun Robot & Automation and Instagram. Meta Platforms Inc. has launched a new image generation artificial intelligence (AI) model called Muse Image, the first of its kind since the company's AI lab was reimagined under Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang's leadership. Muse Image will be embedded in Meta's social apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp. Users can generate images based on text prompts or request the model to modify existing images. All images created using Muse Image will contain invisible watermarks, and the system has implemented security measures to prevent users from creating content that violates Meta's terms of service. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) replaces some applications with AI models developed in-house instead of OpenAI and Anthropic. Microsoft Corporation is accelerating the advancement of AI self-reliance to reduce dependency on external models and costs. According to sources, some office applications such as Excel and Outlook have begun using Microsoft Corporation's in-house MAI model to handle AI requests, with tens of thousands of calls completed weekly, whereas previously these applications relied more on OpenAI and Anthropic models. Although MAI currently accounts for a small proportion of overall AI calls, it shows that Microsoft Corporation is gradually deploying its in-house models in core products. Microsoft Corporation's AI head, Mustafa Suleyman, previously stated that the company's goal is to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, spending on Anthropic models. In addition to office software, the MAI model has been implemented in GitHub Copilot, and in-house speech transcription models will also be applied to products like Teams in the coming months. With Microsoft Corporation's preferential cooperation with OpenAI gradually expiring, the company is accelerating the development of its autonomous AI capabilities to enhance bargaining power and further reduce inference costs. Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) to issue the eighth tranche of investment-grade bonds to raise at least $25 billion. Amazon.com, Inc. is returning to the US bond market to raise funds for the construction of its artificial intelligence infrastructure. According to sources, the company will issue 8 benchmark bonds with maturities ranging from 3 years to 40 years. The longest-dated bond (maturing in 2066) was priced approximately 1.45 percentage points higher than US Treasuries. It is reported that this USD bond issuance will raise at least $25 billion. Barclays, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley are managing the bond issuance. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including debt repayment, acquisitions, and capital expenditures. This is the latest example of large-scale bond issuances by major cloud computing companies. These companies are investing billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. So far, investors have been actively subscribing, with subscription sizes exceeding the issuance size several times over. [Rating by major banks] Raymond James Financial, Inc.: Initiated coverage of SpaceX (SPCX.US) with a "Strong Buy" rating; target price $800 JPMorgan: Raised target price for Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) from $325 to $345