Preview of US Stock Market | All three major stock index futures are rising. The PPI for July will be announced tonight in the U.S. Lenovo's performance is boosting HP and Dell.

Pre-Market Movements 1. As of August 13 (Thursday), U.S. stock futures are all rising ahead of the market opening. As of the time of publication, Dow futures are up 0.30%, S&P 500 futures are up 0.22%, and Nasdaq futures are up 0.12%. 2. As of the time of publication, Germany's DAX index is up 0.36%, the UK's FTSE 100 index is down 0.27%, France's CAC40 index is up 0.13%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 index is up 0.47%. 3. As of the time of publication, WTI crude oil is down 2.16%, priced at $81.47 per barrel. Brent crude oil is down 1.88%, priced at $87.13 per barrel. Market News The yen is once again approaching the critical level of 160, with rate hike expectations unable to halt its decline. Even after sources indicated that Prime Minister Kishi Nobumasa's government supports a rate hike, the yen remains near the key level against the U.S. dollar. The yen steadied on Thursday, trading around 159.36 per dollar. In the past, when the exchange rate neared 160, it typically signaled potential government intervention to support the yen. According to insiders, the next interest rate adjustment may occur in September or October. They added that concerns about the weak yen pushing up prices and the government's desire to strengthen the effects of recent U.S.-Japan currency interventions have led to a consensus on the necessity of a rate hike in the near term. Investors say that this news has little impact on the yen because the market already anticipates a rate hike from the Bank of Japan. The yen has continued to weaken recently due to Japan's significant interest rate gap with the U.S. and a heavy debt burden. Iran claims it will exhaust the U.S. in a prolonged battle. In an interview aired on PBS on August 11, Major General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior advisor to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, pointed out that the U.S. has "failed" in its two main objectives regarding Iran overthrowing the Iranian leadership and dividing Iran asserting that "victory is on Iran's side." Naqdi stated that the U.S. has shown confusion and disarray during this conflict, "constantly declaring new goals, turning it into a war 'without strategy'." He emphasized that Iran will continue to achieve victories, as over five months of conflict with the U.S. has not only provided Iran with experience but has also revealed that U.S. forces are weaker than expected and Iran must achieve deterrence to ensure that the enemy never dares to attack it again, one means being to "prolong the war" and exhaust the U.S., so that if anyone else considers attacking Iran in the future, "they will think twice about the cost." Bank of America: In the age of proxy AI, CPUs need to match GPUs at "1:1". The rise of Agentic AI is fundamentally transforming the computing architecture of data centers, significantly elevating the strategic position of CPUs. Bank of America's latest research report has revised its potential total addressable market (TAM) for server CPUs in 2030 to over $210 billion, a more than 20% increase from the previous estimate of about $170 billion, raising the compound annual growth rate expectation from 30% to 36%. The core logic behind this adjustment is that as AI workloads evolve from training to inference, and then to Agentic AI, the role of CPUs in data center systems is shifting from a "supporting role" alongside GPUs to a "control plane" orchestrated by agents. Bank of America expects the ratio of CPUs to GPUs to shrink from about 1:4 during the training era to around 1:2 in the AI inference phase, ultimately approaching 1:1 in the Agentic AI era. This means by 2030, CPUs will account for about 10% of the overall approximately $2.2 trillion data center systems TAM, up from less than 7% during the 2024 to 2025 training era. Key "strengthening" before the IPO? Reports indicate Anthropic is negotiating a $6 billion acquisition of Decart AI, targeting AI computational efficiency optimization. With just weeks remaining before its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), the AI powerhouse Anthropic PBC is accelerating its technology moat through acquisitions. According to insiders, the AI star company is in deep negotiations to acquire the Israeli AI infrastructure startup Decart AI for an estimated $6 billion. If this deal goes through, it would be Anthropic's largest acquisition to date and its most crucial "technical reinforcement" action ahead of the IPO notably, NVIDIA Corporation was initially the potential acquirer for this deal but was outmaneuvered by Anthropic as negotiations drew to a close. South Korea's central bank has purchased gold assets for the first time in 13 years, with plans for further acquisitions. The Bank of Korea has bought gold-related assets for the first time in 13 years to hedge against political and economic uncertainties from GEO Group Inc. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bank of Korea held 679,765 shares of SPDR Gold Shares, worth approximately $250 million, as of the end of the second quarter. The document indicates that three months ago, the bank did not own any shares in the world's largest physically-backed gold ETF. The Bank of Korea stated that this investment marks its first purchase of gold-linked assets since 2013. This acquisition will not increase the bank's official gold reserves, as gold ETFs are classified as securities, part of its foreign exchange reserves. Hanwha Investment & Securities economist Choi Kyuho mentioned: "The Bank of Korea's current allocation in gold is quite low. From a global standards perspective, there is still room for the Bank of Korea to increase its gold purchases. I believe they will gradually increase their gold holdings." Stock News Lenovo's performance boosts HP Inc. (HPQ.US) and Dell Technologies, Inc. Class C (DELL.US). In pre-market trading on Thursday, HP Inc. and Dell Technologies, Inc. Class C saw their stock prices rise by 7% and 4%, respectively, after their PC peer Lenovo reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings. Lenovo's revenue for the quarter ending June 30 increased by 43.1% year-on-year to $26.94 billion, marking the highest growth rate in five years and the strongest quarter in the company's history. Factors driving this quarter's growth include strong performances from all business segments, with the infrastructure solutions segment's revenue nearly doubling (up 98%) to $8.5 billion. Reports suggest Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) is negotiating to pay publishers to enhance its AI Siri. According to insiders, Apple Inc. is in talks with publishers to establish a new collaboration agreement, planning to utilize their content to provide the latest news and information, aimed at improving the performance of its AI voice assistant, Siri. Insiders revealed that Apple Inc. has been engaging with publishers in recent months, with the proposed new multi-year agreement allowing Apple Inc. to gain usage rights to relevant content to enhance Siri's performance, which is expected to be rolled out later this year. Some insiders noted that Apple Inc. has proposed a floating payment scheme that would compensate partner publishers based on content usage. They also revealed that Apple Inc. has discussed a potential budget that could reach several hundred million dollars. Putting pressure from high tariffs and technical restrictions: Ford Motor Company (F.US) will move part of its Lincoln production line back to the U.S. starting in 2030. Ford Motor Company's CEO stated on Wednesday that the company plans to shift part of its Lincoln model production from China to the U.S. starting in 2030. Both fuel and electric vehicles imported from China are subject to high tariffs. Ford confirmed that the U.S. tariff rate for the Lincoln Navigator, one of its primary models imported from China, has reached 52.5%. Farley mentioned that as part of a significant expansion of production, Lincoln models produced in the U.S. will be sold in the domestic market, although the company did not disclose the specific production site. In addition to tariffs, automakers are also facing restrictions from the Connected Vehicle Rule, which prohibits the use of certain Chinese technology and hardware in vehicles sold in the U.S. Farley noted that these two regulations together prompted Ford to make this decision, but he emphasized that tariffs are the core driving factor. Starship's 14th test flight may be coming by the end of the month! UBS Group AG: It will be key to accelerating SpaceX's (SPCX.US) growth. According to earlier reports, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk previewed during the companys first quarterly earnings conference call that the Starship's 14th test flight will occur at the end of August. UBS Group AG analyst Gavin Parson noted that this test flight may mark a significant turning point shifting from proving that the giant rocket can work normally to demonstrating the various capabilities needed to support the companys ambitious growth plans. It is reported that Musk plans to execute the 14th test flight of Starship by the end of August. This test flight will introduce two significant technological breakthroughs sending the first upgraded Starlink V3 satellites into orbit and attempting to recover Starship's upper stage (the spacecraft) through land-based launch tower equipment for the first time. Musk stated that the 14th test flight signifies a major leap in the development of this reusable rocket. He also revealed that whether a ground recovery attempt will occur in the 14th flight depends on the data performance from the 13th test flight and final approval from regulatory agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). If approved, SpaceX will use a massive robotic arm installed on the Texas launch tower to capture and recover the approximately 52-meter tall upper stage of the Starship in mid-air. Previously, SpaceX has successfully used this technology several times to recover the Super Heavy booster (the first stage). Paramount (PSKY.US) considers selling CNN to resolve antitrust litigation in 12 states. According to reports, Paramount's Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim stated on Wednesday that selling CNN is one of the options to resolve the antitrust litigation from 12 states, which threatens the companys plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.US) for $110 billion. This move signals Paramount's willingness to take action beyond internal safeguards to save one of the most politically charged media mergers in recent years. Meanwhile, reports indicate that Paramount had discussed establishing an editorial committee for CNN and creating other safeguards to maintain its editorial independence, with related internal discussions having begun even before the antitrust litigation was filed. The company responded cautiously, stating: "We have always been open to internal improvements that enhance journalistic integrity." Important Economic Data and Events to Forecast At 20:15 Beijing time: 2026 FOMC voting member and Cleveland Federal Reserve President Harker will deliver a speech. At 20:30 Beijing time: U.S. July PPI year-on-year, as well as initial jobless claims for the week ending August 8. At 20:40 Beijing time: 2027 FOMC voting member and Richmond Federal Reserve President Barkin will speak on the economic outlook. Earnings Forecasts Friday morning: Applied Materials (AMAT.US), Agora, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A (API.US) Friday pre-market: RLX Technology, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A (RLX.US)