📊 Market Snapshot

  • Spot Gold (XAUUSD): 4481.46, -41.36 (-0.91%), day range 4450.69 - 4527.45
  • WTI Crude (USOIL): 86.19, +1.95 (+2.31%), day range 83.995 - 87.367
  • US stocks opened lower: Dow -0.66%, S&P 500 -0.38%, Nasdaq -0.5%
  • Memory/semiconductor stocks rallied against the tape: SK Hynix +6%, SanDisk +3%, Micron & Seagate ~+2%

🔥 Top News This Hour

  • 【Consumption · Walmart】Walmart (WMT) plunges 8.7%, its biggest one-day drop since July 2022. Q2 same-store sales growth hit a six-year low and full-year earnings guidance missed; CEO says AI will improve nearly every part of the business
  • 【Pharma · Moderna】Moderna (MRNA) falls 18% after surging over 170% the prior session, heavy profit-taking
  • 【Memory · Micron】Micron steps up US memory R&D with a planned $10B investment over ten years; memory/semiconductor names rally at the open
  • 【M&A · Virtu】Reported that Virtu is exploring the sale of its brokerage business for over $3.5B; shares hit intraday highs, up as much as 5.8%
  • 【China ADR · Alibaba】Alibaba posts FY2027 Q1 earnings; CEO Wu Yongming targets over $100B external cloud revenue by 2030 with margins above 20%
  • 【Bonds】US yields recoup yesterday’s decline; the bond rally triggered by Treasury Secretary Bessent faded in under 24 hours, with Nomura and Franklin Templeton among Wall Street giants staying bearish
  • 【Commodities · Sugar】India permits duty-free imports of 1M tonnes of sugar to tame record-high prices (sugar up nearly 40% in two months)
  • 【Macro · Morgan Stanley】Morgan Stanley: AI-driven job displacement is still limited but increasingly visible, contributing at most ~15bps to the unemployment rate as of June 2026

🧭 Market Assessment

Walmart’s earnings miss is tonight’s biggest US-market negative, pressuring the consumer sector with the Dow leading losses.

Gold pulled back to around 4481 from highs, with geopolitical risk and rate direction in a tug-of-war; choppy near term.

Crude strength continues above $86, with SC futures up 2% past 596 yuan, re-adding energy cost pressure.

The bond rebound was short-lived; yields are heading back up, weighing on growth-stock valuations.

⏰ Upcoming Key Data

  • 22:00 Beijing: US July Conference Board Leading Economic Index (due imminently, watch the print)
  • US session ongoing; watch fallout from Walmart’s plunge across retail/consumer and the durability of the memory-chain rally