Wednesday Watch

Around X:

• @Business  

• President Trump backed away from his plan to impose a 20% charge on cargo shipments through the Strait of Hormuz after US allies in the Gulf urged him to drop it.  
• President Trump welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to the White House Tuesday after strongly backing the businessman and former banker to lead the country. 
• Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said Tuesday the drop in US consumer prices in June does not mean "mission accomplished" on inflation. He promised Congress the central bank will deliver price stability and said policymakers have no tolerance for high inflation.  
• A small number of Nvidia Corp.’s H200 artificial intelligence chips have been shipped to customers in China after winning US approval, the Trump administration official who oversees export control programs confirmed.

• @ZeroHedge

• Israeli Officials Try To Push US Refueling Tankers Out Of Ben Gurion Airport Amid Disruptions. 
• The Lockdown Disaster Must Not Be Forgiven. 
• So here's what we're learning from all these declassified materials: The US Intelligence Community *juiced* intel to make it seem like Moscow interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump, but then *buried* intel indicating Beijing interfered in the election to help Biden in 2020.               
• Mineral water plant in Iran's Deloran hit by three projectiles: Fars.
• Great Rewiring: US Supports Iraq-Syria Oil Pipeline To Erode Tehran's Hormuz Leverage.
• Why Digital ID Is The Hill To Die On: The Authentication Layer.
• Jack Smith's Team Spied On 44 Lawmakers' Texts, Built A Case On Them, And Misled Congress: Grassley.
• FULL STATEMENT on Jack Smith’s Illegal Weaponization Spying on Congress and Subsequent Perjury.
• @POTUS on Iran: "We're going to hit them very hard tonight. We're going to hit them very hard tomorrow night. We're going to hit them very hard the night after... We're going to knock out all their power plants, we're going to knock out all their bridges, unless they get to the table and negotiate." (video)    
• *TRUMP REPEATS HORMUZ HAS TO REMAIN FREE.         
• I asked Senator Thom Tillis about his vote against the Save America act and whether it has anything to do with the money he’s receiving from industries who profit off of cheap illegal labor. He was VERY mad about the question. We deserve better than these America Last losers! -@SaraGonzalesTX (video)
• New York's Millionaire Exodus Is Costing Billions In Lost Revenue.
• Star performer YTD. An AI winner. But positioning at multi-year lows. Who am I?
• Healthcare Stocks Ready To Star In Rotation Trade.
• Largest US Power Grid Is 6.8 Gigawatts Short To Ensure Reliability On Data Center Demand.
• *LIONSGATE STUDIOS EXPLORES SALE: REUTERS.
• Rubio Pledges To Dismantle International Criminal Court's Threat To US Sovereignty.
• Looks like perjury.     
• *US SAYS IT RESUMED ITS NAVAL BLOCKADE OF IRANIAN PORTS, COAST.
• Big-Banks Good, Breadth Bad, Big-Blue Ugly; Bitcoin, Bullion, & Bonds Bid On Benign-Flation.  

• @CNBC 

• The AI boom just found two new winners: Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. 
• The consumer price index, a broad measure of costs for goods and services across the U.S. economy, was lower than expected across the board. The CPI fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for the month, bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.5%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a drop of 0.2% and an inflation rate of 3.8%, following the 4.2% reading in May. The monthly decline in headline inflation was the biggest since April 2020. 
• Stock futures are flat after soft inflation reading lifts market: Live updates. 
• Wednesday's big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session.

• @TheTranscript

• Aehr Test Systems CEO: ". Record quarterly bookings, a very strong backlog, and growing demand across AI processors, silicon photonics, and power semiconductors for our wafer-level and package-level burn-in solutions..." $AEHR: +26% AH.

• @WallStEngine

• OpenAI reportedly plans to unveil a home speaker this year as its first hardware product, with release planned for 2027. OpenAI believes the device does not violate Apple’s trade secrets, despite Apple’s lawsuit around OpenAI’s consumer hardware push.
• White House launched GOLD EAGLE, a new cybersecurity vulnerability coordination initiative focused on AI and critical infrastructure. 

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are +.75% to +1.75% on average. 
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 70.0 -.25 basis point. 
• China Sovereign CDS 37.0 unch.
• China Iron Ore Spot 100.60 USD/Metric Tonne +.5%. 
• Crude Oil 80.12/bbl. +.98% 
• Gold 4,043.50 USD/t oz. -.66%. 
• Swiss Franc/Offshore Chinese Renminbi Cross 8.37 +.05%.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 34.67 +.03%.
• Bloomberg Global Risk-On/Risk Off Index 127.0 +.7%.
• US 10-Year Yield 4.59% unch.
• Japan 30-Year Yield 3.76% +1.0 basis point. 
• Volatility Index(VIX) futures 18.4 -.6%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures -.24%. 
• S&P 500 futures +.17%.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.59%.

Morning Preview Links

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are modestly higher, boosted by technology and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to maintain gains into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.