JAPAN JUST PASSED A LAW RECOGNIZING CRYPTO AS "FINANCIAL ASSETS"! This opens the door for BITCOIN ETFs and slashes crypto taxes to around 20%. Plus, insider-trading rules and tougher penalties are on deck.
Lawmakers have advanced legislation to recognize crypto as a financial asset, paving the way for regulated crypto ETFs while introducing a 20% flat tax framework to replace the current system that can reach 55%.
If fully implemented, this could significantly boost institutional adoption and strengthen Japan's position in the global digital asset industry.
China’s economy has slipped to its weakest pace in more than three years. Fresh data shows growth slowing as higher energy costs and shipping disruptions from the US‑Iran conflict weigh on factories and consumers. Industrial output in April rose just 4.1% year‑on‑year, the slowest since mid‑2023. Retail sales barely grew, rising only 0.2%, marking their weakest performance since late 2022.
The conflict has pushed up global oil and gas prices and disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for China’s energy imports. Rising input costs are squeezing manufacturers already struggling with weak domestic demand and a prolonged property slump. Exports remain a bright spot thanks to strong orders from AI‑related industries, but they are not enough to offset falling investment and soft consumer spending.
China’s second‑quarter GDP grew 4.3%, missing expectations and falling short of Beijing’s 4.5–5% annual target. Policymakers face pressure to boost consumption and stabilize investment as uncertainty grows over how long the conflict will drag on and how much more it will strain the global economy. $UNI $UP $ID
#ChinaQ2GDPGrows4.3%MissingForecast China’s economy grew 4.3% in the second quarter, below the official 2026 target and the lowest reading apart from the three-year period when the government implemented Covid lockdowns $YB $YGG $YZY
#ChinaQ2GDPGrows4.3%MissingForecast China’s economy in the second quarter expanded at its weakest pace since the fourth quarter of 2022, reinforcing calls for policy stimulus as an accelerating slide in investments deepened the strain on growth, while consumption stayed subdued.
Gross domestic product growth came in at 4.3% in the April to June period, data from the National Statistics Bureau showed Wednesday, missing economists’ forecast for 4.5% growth in a Reuters poll, and slowing from 5% in the first quarter. $TRX $TAO $T
#FootballSeason2026 Soweto Derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa 🇿🇦 is the biggest football derby in the world for the 2025/2026 season.
A mammoth 101,000 fans attended the clash on the 28th of February, 2026.$RE $RAY $RIF
#MicronFallsNearly14%InAMonth The double catalyst landed dovish data, hawkish Fed, and the market traded the data. June CPI came in cold: headline 3.5% y/y vs 3.8% expected and -0.4% m/m, the first negative monthly print since 2020, with core flat at 0% m/m, the smallest since January 2021. Consumer prices fell for the first time in six years. Warsh leaned against it in his first congressional testimony, calling the improvement not "mission accomplished" and vowing the five-year inflation surge "will be a thing of the past", so swaps still price ~40-50% odds of a July hike. Equities shrugged the hawkish tone and took the soft print, reversing Monday's slump.
The chip trade came roaring back, reversing the weekend crash. $NQ (29,868) V-shaped off Monday's 29,300 low as SK Hynix and Samsung recovered in Korea after the brutal post-listing selloff, dragging US memory peers up with them, Nasdaq 100 +1.1% on the day. $ES (7,601) reclaimed 7,600. IBM was the ugly exception, crashing over 20% on a revenue miss for its worst day on record, sinking the Dow red while the S&P and Nasdaq closed green.
Crude oil $CL sits at $79.85 after Brent surged above $86 to a one-month high then pared, WTI around $80. The war premium is real on the Hormuz supply threat, but the pullback off the highs came after Trump dropped his demand for ships to pay a 20% transit fee.
$Gold ($4,058) still won't play haven, pinned near the lows as hawkish-Warsh dollar strength keeps the pressure on, same story all cycle.
TL;DR: cool CPI beats hawkish Fed, chips lead the bounce, oil elevated but capped. PPI Wednesday and Warsh day two are next, watch whether the soft-inflation read survives another hawkish lean.$B $B2
Micron is putting in a clean bull flag right into major support. When a stock refuses to break down alongside its global proxies, it means the selling pressure is exhausted.
Watch how this flag resolves over the next 48 hours. $V $VSN