The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the sixth consecutive session, while the S&P 500 hit a 15-month high. Apple and Nvidia both reached record highs at the close of trading.

Investors are waiting for major financial institutions such as Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs, as well as IBM, United Airlines, tech giants Tesla and Netflix, to release their second-quarter earnings reports this week. Wall Street expects a year-on-year decline of over 7% in earnings for S&P 500 constituents.

The New York Fed's manufacturing index for July dropped to 1.1%, indicating a near halt in manufacturing growth in the state, but inflationary pressures further cooled. Retail sales data for June in the United States and inflation data for the UK will also be released on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Last Friday, the IMF stated that global nominal inflation appears to have peaked, but core inflation in most G20 countries, especially developed economies, is well above central bank targets, necessitating caution in prematurely easing policies.

The Federal Reserve is entering a "quiet period" ahead of its policy meeting next week, with traders betting a 97% probability of a 25 basis point rate hike in July, which would be the final rate hike. The European Central Bank may also raise rates by 25 basis points next Thursday, bringing the year-end interest rate to 4%.

The German central bank has made a pessimistic forecast, stating that despite a slight rebound in the second quarter, the largest economy in the eurozone may contract more than the previously expected 0.3% this year. The President of the German central bank reiterated that core inflation is "very tricky," and data before September will be needed after the rate hike in July.

Russia has informed Turkey and the United Nations that it will not extend the Black Sea grain agreement, sparking concerns about a sharp reduction in Ukrainian grain exports and global food security. Wheat futures jumped 3.5% to the highest level since June 28th, and corn and soybeans also rose.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the sixth consecutive session to a new high for the year, while the S&P 500 reached a 15-month high. The decline in Chinese concept stocks narrowed significantly, and Apple and Nvidia reached new highs.

On Monday, July 17th, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq opened slightly higher, while the Dow opened slightly lower. Within the first hour of trading, the Dow reversed its decline and turned positive, while the S&P stabilized above the 4,500 level, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq and Russell small-cap stocks led the major indices.

US stocks closed near their daily highs, with both the S&P and Nasdaq rising for the fifth consecutive trading day, reaching their highest levels in 15 months since early April last year. The Dow rose for the sixth consecutive day to its highest level since November 30th last year, and the Russell small-cap stocks rose for the sixth day in seven, reaching their highest level in five months:

The S&P 500 rose 17.37 points, or 0.39%, to 4,522.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.32 points, or 0.22%, to 34,585.35. The Nasdaq Composite rose 131.25 points, or 0.93%, to 14,244.95. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.95%, and the Russell 2000 small-cap index rose 1.04%.

US stocks closed near their daily highs, with the Dow rising for the sixth consecutive session to a new high for the year, and the S&P and Nasdaq reaching a 15-month high.

The S&P 11 sectors experienced mixed performance, with the information technology/tech sector rising 1.3%, finance rising 1%, discretionary consumer goods rising 0.3%, and the energy sector declining 0.12%. Defensive sectors such as telecommunications services fell 0.7%, real estate fell 0.8%, and utilities fell over 1%.

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 2.3%, marking its best weekly performance since March. The S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index both rose 2.4% and 3.3% respectively. Strong earnings from large banks and a significant cooling of US inflation in June boosted risk appetite and strengthened confidence in a soft landing for the US economy.

Most tech stocks performed well. After initially falling over 1%, "metaverse" company Meta rebounded, while Netflix rose nearly 2% and remained near an 18-month high. Apple reached a historical high with a 1.7% increase, Microsoft saw a slight increase to a one-month high, Amazon fell 0.8% from its ten-month high, and Google Class A shares fell 0.6% from their five-week high. Tesla rose over 3% and reached a ten-month high after five consecutive days of gains.

Chip stocks rebounded in the afternoon. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.3%, surpassing 3800 points to reach an 18-month high, marking the sixth day of gains in the past seven days. AMD saw a 2% increase, while Intel rose 3.7%, both reaching one-month highs. Nvidia rose over 2% to hit a new all-time high, although it initially fell during early trading.

Nvidia experienced a mid-day decline but rebounded to rise over 2% and reach a new all-time high by the end of the trading day.

AI concept stocks also saw widespread gains. C3.ai rose 4% from its monthly low, Palantir Technologies rose over 6% to reach its highest level in a year and a half, SoundHound.ai rose over 3% from its one-month low, and BigBear.ai rose 2.5% before closing flat.

In terms of news, it was reported that TSMC's Kaohsiung plant will adopt the 2nm process to respond to the AI wave. Citigroup predicts that Nvidia's stock price could rise another 32% to $600. Tesla completed the production of its first electric pickup truck, the Cybertruck, at its Gigafactory in Texas. Wells Fargo raised its target price to $265 but maintained a neutral rating, expressing concerns about the pressure on automotive gross margins due to price reductions. The US House Judiciary Committee has requested an investigation into Meta's newly launched "Twitter killer" Threads. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate Tesla's relationship with Twitter and corporate governance issues.

Chinese concept stocks saw a significant narrowing of losses in the final trading session. The KWEB ETF fell 2.6% before closing down 0.6%, CQQQ fell 1.7% before closing down 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) fell 2.2% before closing down 0.2%, still approaching 7100 points, which was its highest level in over three months since last Thursday.

In the Nasdaq 100 constituents, JD.com fell 1%, Baidu reversed to a 0.3% gain, and Pinduoduo dropped 0.5%. Among other stocks, Alibaba fell over 1%, Tencent ADR declined 0.4%, Bilibili dropped 0.6%, while NIO and XPeng Motors initially fell 3% but later gained over 0.2%, and Li Auto rose over 3%. Prosus, the major shareholder of Tencent ADR, is expected to see its stake shrink by 2%-3% annually during the buyback period, and it is projected to decrease to around 24% to 25% by the end of this year.

Regional bank stocks rose 2%, reaching a five-week high. The industry benchmark, the KBW Bank Index (BKX) on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, increased by 1%, hitting a three-month high, after reaching its lowest point since October 2020 on May 4. The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index (KRX) hit its lowest point since November 2020 on May 11, while the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) reached its lowest level since October 2020 on May 4.

The "Big Four" U.S. banks all rose over 1%, with JPMorgan Chase leading the way with a gain of over 2%, and Wells Fargo rising nearly 3%. Among key regional banks, PacWest Bancorp and KeyCorp rose over 1%, while Western Alliance Bancorp and Zions Bancorporation gained over 2%. However, Deutsche Bank, which experienced a 12% drop last Friday, fell over 2% to a nine-month low due to lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue. JPMorgan Chase downgraded its rating from "Neutral" to "Underweight".

Other stocks with significant changes include:

Video game manufacturer Activision Blizzard rose 3.5% to a two-year high. Microsoft's acquisition of the company faced a deadline for "completion of the transaction," and a UK court halted actions by UK regulators to block the deal. Microsoft also signed an agreement with Sony to keep Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty" on the PlayStation gaming platform after the acquisition.

However, after-hours news revealed that Berkshire Hathaway, owned by Warren Buffett, reduced its holdings in Activision Blizzard, with its stake plummeting from 6.7% in February to 1.9%. Activision Blizzard still saw a slight increase after hours.

In response to the challenge posed by Tesla's electric pickup truck, Ford significantly reduced the price of its best-selling electric pickup truck, the F-150 Lightning, with the base model's price lowered by approximately 17% or a maximum reduction of $10,000. Ford's stock price fell nearly 6% to a three-week low.

The U.S. box office performance of Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible 7" during its first three days fell short of expectations, causing Paramount Pictures' stock price to drop 3.8% to a six-week low. Disney fell 3.5%, marking its largest two-month decline since the end of last year, as the market is concerned about its underperforming traditional television media business.

Yelp, the U.S. version of Dianping, rose over 10% to a two-year high. Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating to "Buy," with the latest target price at a 23% premium to last Friday's closing price, showing optimism for the stable/upward trend in local advertising and the potential for increased shareholder returns.

The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company BridgeBio Pharma saw a 76% surge, reaching its highest level in a year and a half and the largest increase since going public, thanks to positive clinical trial results for its heart disease treatment.

Dutch biopharmaceutical company Argenx, which is developing differentiated therapies for severe autoimmune diseases, experienced a record-breaking surge of over 31%, with its target price raised by nearly 44% compared to last Friday, according to Guggenheim.

European stocks fell across the board, with France's CAC index leading the major national indices with a decline of over 1%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.63%, with household goods stocks falling 2.5%. However, banking stocks rose 0.5%. The index has accumulated nearly a 3% increase last week, marking its best performance since March, along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index fell by about 1%, and European luxury stocks experienced a sharp decline. LVMH fell by 3.7%, Gucci's parent company Kering Group and L'Oréal both dropped nearly 2%, and LVMH fell by 4.2%.

Long-term US Treasury yields rise more, while short-term yields fall less at the end of the day, European bond yields continue to decline

US Treasury yields collectively declined slightly before the market opened, and US stocks turned higher in early trading. The two-year yield, which is more sensitive to monetary policy, rose slightly and hovered around 4.75%, recovering from the decline since last Thursday.

Yields on longer-term bonds, those with maturities of more than 10 years, rose relatively more, mainly due to market speculation that the downward trend in inflation will help the US economy avoid a "hard landing" recession. However, benchmark bond yields fell slightly by 1 basis point to 3.81% after midday.

Long-term US Treasury yields rise more, while short-term yields fall less at the end of the day

European bond yields continued their recent downward trend. The yield on the 10-year German benchmark bond in the eurozone fell by 3 basis points to 2.45%, accumulating a decline of 16 basis points last week, as the cooling of US inflation raised hopes that the major central banks in Europe and the US are nearing the end of their tightening cycles.

Despite Russia's export cuts, oil prices fell 2% during the day to a one-week low, while European natural gas remained at a six-week low

Concerns about demand prospects led to a simultaneous decline of over 1% in international oil prices for two consecutive days. WTI August crude oil futures closed down $1.27, or 1.68%, at $74.15 per barrel. Brent September futures closed down $1.37, or 1.72%, at $78.50 per barrel.

The more actively traded WTI September futures for US oil experienced the deepest decline, falling by $1.54 or 2%, and briefly dropping below $74 per barrel to a one-week low. Brent experienced the deepest decline of $1.60 or 2%, approaching $78 per barrel, erasing more than half of its gains since last Tuesday.

Oil prices fell 2% to a one-week low during trading.

Oil prices had been rising for three consecutive weeks and reached their highest level since April this year last week, mainly supported by OPEC+ production cuts and unplanned power outages in Libya and Nigeria. However, two out of three oil fields in Libya have resumed production on Monday.

The latest news may be positive for oil prices. Russia will increase oil export tariffs from August 1st and reduce seaborne and pipeline oil exports in the same month. The plan is to reduce total crude oil exports by 2.1 million tons in the third quarter, in line with the commitment to reduce overseas supply by 500,000 barrels per day in August.

The TTF Dutch natural gas futures, the European benchmark, narrowed their decline at the end of the session, still below 30 euros per megawatt-hour, hovering near a six-week low. ICE UK natural gas fell 1.4%, and European stocks fell to their lowest level in nearly two years since September 2021 in pre-market trading.

The US dollar index hovered near a 15-month low, while the euro reached a 17-month high. The offshore renminbi briefly fell by 320 points to 7.19 yuan.

The market is betting that the Fed's interest rate hike cycle is nearing its end. The DXY, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, rose slightly but remained below the 100 level, hovering at the lowest level since April 2022, which was set at 99.57 last Friday, marking the deepest decline this year.

The US dollar slightly rebounded but remained below the 100 level, hovering at a 15-month low.

The euro against the US dollar slightly rebounded and stabilized above 1.12, reaching a high of 1.1249 earlier, the highest since February last year. The British pound against the US dollar slightly declined and fell below 1.31, reaching a high of 1.3144 last Thursday, the highest in 15 months.

The yen against the US dollar stabilized above the 139 level, reaching a two-month high of 137.25 last Friday, the highest since May 17. The offshore renminbi briefly fell to 7.19 yuan, down 320 points from the previous close, the lowest since last Wednesday.

Mainstream cryptocurrencies fell slightly but not significantly. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, fell more than 1% but remained around $30,000. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, fell more than 2% and fell below $1,900. Ripple, which surged 70% last Thursday, fell more than 6% and has fallen 10% since last Friday. Some analysts believe that this is due to profit-taking by investors, and a US judge ruled last week that Ripple "may not necessarily be a security."

Bitcoin fell more than 1% but remained above $30,000.

Gold Slightly Falls but Remains Above $1950, Industrial Metals Decline Together, London Copper Falls Over 2%, Chicago Wheat Futures Rise and Fall

The decline in the US dollar and US bond yields has put pressure on the price of gold. COMEX August gold futures fell 0.41% to $1956.40 per ounce.

Spot gold briefly fell nearly $10 or 0.5%, while the decline in US stocks narrowed significantly to 0.1% during trading and returned above the $1950 integer level. Last week, gold prices recorded the largest weekly gain since April and reached the highest level in four weeks.

Gold Slightly Falls but Remains Above $1950

Concerns about demand prospects triggered a decline in London industrial metals across the board. The "Copper Doctor" fell $182 or 2.1%, breaking through the key levels of $8600 and $8500 successively, falling from the two-and-a-half-month high.

London aluminum fell 1% from a six-week high. London nickel fell 2.7%, both falling from the one-month high. London lead fell 1.1% from a three-week high. London tin fell 0.6%, further away from the nearly six-month high set last week.

Chicago wheat futures rose and fell, eventually falling more than 1.1%. The positive effect of the failure of the Black Sea Grain Export Corridor Agreement was short-lived. CBOT corn futures also turned lower in the late session, falling 1.5%, while soybean futures maintained a 0.4% increase.