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Asian equities fell for a second day as a selloff in chipmakers deepened on mounting concern that massive AI investments may not justify lofty valuations, according to Bloomberg. Oil climbed.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.2% as Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated about 3%. Chipmaker Kioxia sank as much as 16%, extending losses to more than 50% from last month's record high. TSMC dropped more than 3% as a solid earnings outlook was overshadowed by a higher spending forecast.Netflix shares fell 9% in extended trading after forecasting a second quarter of slowing sales growth, sending Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.6%.Brent rebounded above $85 a barrel, up 12% for the week and on track for its biggest weekly gain since April, rekindling inflation concerns as Middle East hostilities escalated and Hormuz shipping traffic slumped.Miller Tabak chief market strategist Matt Maley said chip stocks are showing meaningful cracks and need a strong rebound soon or it will raise real warning flags. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has dropped about 19% from a June peak.Alphabet sank 4.4% as Google was said to be months behind schedule on delivering its most-powerful flagship AI model. The four biggest US AI operators are expected to spend more than $725 billion this year alone.Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama renewed her warning of possible currency intervention as the yen hovered near a 40-year low at 162.40 per dollar. Daiwa Securities strategist Yugo Tsuboi said investors may be using the Japanese market to hedge semiconductor concerns with South Korea closed.Bitcoin fell 0.2% to $63,945. WTI crude rose 1.4% to $80.02. Spot gold rose 0.4% to $3,991.17.

Bitcoin fell to approximately $63,000 on Friday — down 1.7% over 24 hours and 2.2% on the week — as a deepening global selloff in semiconductor stocks dragged risk assets lower and erased most of the gains from Tuesday's soft CPI print. Ether held better at $1,836, still up 2.4% over seven days. Hyperliquid's HYPE led crypto losses at 8% on the day and 12% on the week. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1.8%, S&P 500 contracts fell 0.9%, and a semiconductor ETF slid 3% in premarket trading. Taiwanese stocks fell into a technical correction and Asia's main benchmark hit a two-month low. The Fed meets July 28 and 29.The Two Trades Pulling Bitcoin in Opposite DirectionsBitcoin's week can be summarized in two trades pulling in opposite directions. Tuesday's soft CPI print — headline decelerating to 3.8% from 4.2% with core MoM falling to 0.2% — was a macro trade that lifted Bitcoin toward $65,000 by reducing Fed rate-hike expectations and pushing the two-year Treasury yield lower. Friday's chip selloff is the counter-trade: a sector-specific risk-off move driven by fundamental questions about AI capital expenditure returns that has been running all quarter and has repeatedly overridden macro relief rallies.The dynamic is the same one that has defined Bitcoin's entire Q2. AI and chip stocks set the tone for global risk appetite — Anchorage Digital analysts attributed approximately 30% of Bitcoin's first-half pressure to capital rotating into AI. When semiconductor stocks sell off on valuation and ROI concerns, Bitcoin follows. When macro data provides disinflationary relief, Bitcoin rallies. The current price of approximately $63,000 represents the equilibrium between those two opposing forces heading into the July 28-29 FOMC meeting.The Chip Rout — TSMC Didn't Settle the QuestionThe central question driving the semiconductor selloff is whether the hundreds of billions that AI hyperscalers — Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta — are spending on GPU clusters will produce returns sufficient to justify the valuations embedded in chipmaker stocks. TSMC's results this week — which showed a 67.9% year-on-year surge in June revenue to $13.8 billion driven by AI chip demand — did not settle that question. Strong revenue growth confirmed the demand exists. It did not answer whether the AI applications being built on that infrastructure will generate the revenue that validates the infrastructure spending at current valuations.The distinction matters for Bitcoin because the chip selloff is not a demand story — it is a valuation story. TSMC's revenue is growing 68% year-on-year. The concern is not that AI chip demand is fake but that the multiples applied to that demand growth are unsustainable if revenue conversion from AI applications takes longer than the current investment cycle. That concern produces a rotation from high-multiple semiconductor names into lower-risk assets — a rotation that historically reduces risk appetite broadly and applies downward pressure to Bitcoin as the highest-beta risk asset in global markets.Taiwan Correction, Asia at Two-Month Low, Europe HoldsThe geographic distribution of the selloff provides a precise read on where the chip exposure concentration is highest. Taiwanese stocks fell into a technical correction — defined as a 10% decline from a recent high — as TSMC and the broader Taiwan semiconductor complex absorbed the sector-specific selling. Asia's main benchmark hit a two-month low. Europe held up better specifically because of lower technology and semiconductor exposure — a data point confirming that this is a sector-driven selloff rather than a broad macro risk-off event of the type that the Iran ceasefire collapse produced.The contrast with the June KOSPI crashes is instructive. June's semiconductor selloffs — Samsung down 8.3%, SK Hynix down 30% from record — were driven by AI demand fear following SpaceX's $20 billion bond sale and its implications for AI capex sustainability. Friday's selloff is the continuation of that same fundamental reassessment playing out globally rather than being concentrated in Korean names.HYPE's 8% Drop — The Leveraged Derivatives ExposureHyperliquid's HYPE leading crypto losses at 8% on the day and 12% on the week is consistent with its role as the highest-beta token in the derivatives and DeFi narrative. When risk appetite contracts, the tokens most closely associated with leveraged trading activity and protocol-level speculation compress more severely than Bitcoin or Ether. HYPE had been targeting a record above $78 following its Robinhood Chain competitor dynamic with LIT — Friday's 8% decline puts that target further away and reflects the broader de-risking that accompanies semiconductor-driven equity selloffs.The Setup Into the FOMC — July 28-29Bitcoin at $63,000 heading into the weekend sits in the same range it has occupied for most of the past month — above the 200-week SMA at $62,873, below the $64,400-$65,200 resistance that CPI briefly pushed it through, and subject to the same dual forces that have defined the quarter. The Fed meets July 28-29 — the next scheduled event with the potential to structurally shift the macro half of that equation. Until then, the chip rout's trajectory and any further Iran-Hormuz escalation are the variables most likely to determine whether $63,000 holds as support or gives way to a retest of the $60,000-$62,000 floor that has anchored the lower boundary of the 307-day consolidation range.

According to CNBC, Nvidia unveiled Cosmos 3 Edge, a new AI model for robots and vision AI agents, as the company deepens its push into the physical AI market in Japan. The model is designed to help systems perceive and navigate physical environments in real time, and its rollout follows the launch of Cosmos 3 in May. Nvidia said the expansion comes as CEO Jensen Huang makes a two-day visit to Japan, where the company is building a coalition that local industrial groups, including Fujitsu, Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, intend to join. Huang said in a Wednesday statement that the next frontier of AI is in the physical world and called Japan a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Nvidia also said it is expanding into Japan's healthcare and biotechnology sectors through agentic AI initiatives for drug discovery and medical robotics, including the Tokyo-1 consortium operated by Xeureka, a Mitsui subsidiary.

CNBC reported that SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its Starship mega rocket on Thursday, with CEO Elon Musk pledging to make another attempt hopefully in a few days.A 90-minute launch window opened at 6:45 p.m. ET, and within minutes the company announced on a livestream it was standing down. Musk wrote on X that some of the engines didn't start, triggering an automatic launch abort, adding that two Raptors will be removed and replaced with most probable launch timing early next week.Shares of SpaceX fell more than 3% in extended trading, sinking further beneath its $135 IPO price. The stock is on a five-day losing streak, closing at $131.11 on Thursday.The rocket was poised for takeoff from SpaceX's Starbase complex in South Texas when a hold was triggered on the booster, shutting down engines right as they were starting to ignite. It would have been the second flight of the upgraded Starship V3 since the June IPO.An earlier V3 test in May saw several booster engines fail to reignite for a soft landing, causing it to plummet into the Gulf of Mexico. The FAA ordered an investigation and cleared Starship to fly on Monday, citing heat effects on propulsion components and erroneous engine alarm settings as root causes.SpaceX identified four corrective actions including hardware and software updates. Thursday's mission planned to ferry 20 next-generation Starlink satellites to connect with the broader constellation.Investors are closely watching the 13th Starship test as the rocket is key to scaling Starlink and completing NASA Artemis moon missions. SpaceX's $85.7 billion IPO was the largest on record.

According to CNBC, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees that Anthropic's restrictions on requests to its high-end Fable artificial intelligence model do not make sense. Nadella said the model's refusals for some requests were overly editorially controlled and added that the setup made no economic sense. The remarks came as Microsoft said in November it would make a $5 billion investment in Anthropic, while Anthropic agreed to spend $30 billion on Microsoft's Azure cloud. Microsoft also has drawn on Anthropic's models in its Copilot and Foundry products, and it said in April that it had more than 20 million paid seats for the work-focused Copilot.

Crypto markets fell as AI stock fatigue and rising U.S.-Iran tensions weighed on sentiment, with bitcoin sliding below $63,000. According to CoinDesk, the selloff spread from stocks into crypto even as a technical measure suggested oversold conditions heading into the weekend.

PayPal's board believes the takeover offer from payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International undervalues the company and faces regulatory and financing hurdles, according to people familiar with the matter. Two other sources said PayPal has not yet formally responded to the proposal, according to 36Kr.

Ether fell twice as hard as bitcoin and HYPE dropped 10% as the chip trade unwound, while Japan's Nikkei logged its worst day since March. Ether remains the only major asset still up on the week, though only barely, according to CoinDesk, as risk appetite weakened across markets.

Equity funds now make up a record 64.7% of EPFR Global's tracked assets, while Bitcoin has fallen 32.9% year-to-date. According to NS3.AI, NYDIG research linked Bitcoin's weakness to crypto-specific supply pressure.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs also shed $4.9 billion over the quarter, adding to pressure on the market. The data points to a sharp divergence between equity fund assets and Bitcoin performance during the period.

Watcher.Guru reported that SpaceX 10-year forecasts currently range from about $470 billion on the low end to well above $10 trillion, with some bulls going as high as $40 trillion, reflecting the challenge of pricing in unproven businesses like Starlink growth and an orbital data center economy.
Baron Capital's Ron Baron, who put an additional $1 billion into SpaceX shares around the IPO, said on CNBC he believes the company will be worth $10 trillion to $40 trillion in 10 to 15 years, potentially becoming the largest company on the planet.
Raymond James initiated coverage with an $800 price target and Strong Buy rating, implying a market cap well north of $10 trillion. Analysts Brian Gesuale and Ryan Rackley said Starship reduces the cost of transporting mass to orbit by more than 99% while increasing payload capacity by an order of magnitude. The target is more than twice Morgan Stanley's and nearly four times Goldman Sachs'.
Goldman Sachs' 2030 base case sits near $470 billion, built on xAI revenue and Starlink broadband growth. New Constructs warned that trillion-dollar assumptions set an impossible bar given SpaceX's capital costs and margin pressure.
Musk told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sean Hannity's radio show that SpaceX plans to send tens of thousands of people to a lunar base within ten years, calling it a pretty outrageous number. He said SpaceX would launch its first AI satellites next year, scaling to a large commercial operation within two years.
The New York Times tracked at least 19 instances of Musk making similar Mars and Moon timeline promises since 2011, most of which did not materialize.

According to CNBC, short sellers have increased bearish bets against SpaceX to about 185 million shares, or roughly 29% of the company's publicly tradable float, worth about $25 billion. S3 Partners said the short position was up from an estimated 40 million shares, or around 5% to 7% of the float, three weeks ago. SpaceX shares have fallen about 20% in July, briefly dropped below their $135 IPO price on Wednesday for the first time, and last traded around $131 on Thursday.

According to CNBC, Iran claimed Friday that it targeted U.S. military forces in Syria and Bahrain as the U.S. completed its sixth straight night of strikes on the Islamic Republic. U.S. Central Command said it finished another major wave of attacks on Iran overnight, hitting dozens of military targets including air defenses, logistics infrastructure and maritime capabilities, while Iranian state media said the strikes killed eight people and wounded 20. Brent crude for September delivery rose 0.5% to $84.67 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate for August gained 0.9% to $79.66, with both contracts up more than 11% for the week and on pace for their best weekly performance since late April.

On July 17, SoSoValue data showed that the crypto market fell across all sectors, with DeFi among the weakest performers, down 5.08% over 24 hours. Hyperliquid (HYPE) fell 10.28%, while DeXe (DEXE) and Aave (AAVE) dropped 4.83% and 6.12%, respectively. Beldex (BDX) rose 6.61% against the broader decline.
According to Odaily, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 1.79% and dropped below $64,000, while Ethereum (ETH) declined 3.53% and fell below $1,900.
Among other sectors, Layer2 fell 0.63% in the past 24 hours, although Mantle (MNT) rose 3.16%. CeFi declined 0.94%, while Cronos (CRO) climbed 8.68% intraday. PayFi fell 2.32%, with Zcash (ZEC) down 6.88%; Layer1 declined 2.41%, with NEAR Protocol (NEAR) losing 4.64%; and Meme fell 2.57%, with Bonk (BONK) down 5.70%.
Crypto sector indices tracking historical performance showed that ssiDeFi, ssiSocialFi and ssiAI fell 5.97%, 4.24% and 3.56%, respectively.

China's main futures contracts opened mixed in early trading, with palladium falling nearly 4% and Shanghai silver dropping more than 3%. According to Jin10, platinum and soda ash fell more than 2%, while lithium carbonate rose more than 2%. Shanghai lead and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) gained more than 1%.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission said single-stock leveraged ETFs have played a clear role in preventing funds from flowing into overseas equity markets. According to Jin10, the commission also said U.S. and Japanese semiconductor stocks have recently seen a marked rise in volatility, responding to claims that single-stock leveraged ETFs were the main cause of the recent increase in volatility in the South Korean stock market.
Byun Je-ho, head of the FSC's capital markets bureau, said some investment demand that had been flowing overseas has returned to the domestic market, and the products have also helped stop new funds from moving abroad. He added that the stronger volatility in South Korea's stock market since the products were listed cannot be explained simply by single-stock leveraged ETFs, saying the concentration of market funds in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, along with repeated shifts in global semiconductor industry expectations and concerns, has widened volatility in related products.

Emerging-market equities slumped, with a key gauge headed for a technical correction as mounting concerns over stretched AI valuations triggered a selloff in chip stocks across Asia, according to Bloomberg.
The move reflects renewed pressure on technology shares across the region as investors reassess AI-related valuations.

Zhuochuang Information said gasoline and diesel retail price caps will be raised at 24:00 on July 17, with prices increasing by 300 yuan per ton for gasoline and 290 yuan per ton for diesel. According to Jin10, 92-octane gasoline, 95-octane gasoline, and No. 0 diesel will each rise by 0.24 yuan, 0.25 yuan, and 0.25 yuan per liter, respectively.
After the policy takes effect, consumers' fuel costs will increase, and filling a 50-liter tank in a small private car will cost 12 yuan more than before. Zhuochuang Information said short-term international oil prices will continue to fluctuate around the progress of U.S.-Iran talks, and next week will likely show a firmer trend with high volatility. Based on current crude oil prices, it calculated that the re-estimated crude oil change rate may turn positive, corresponding to a price hike of about 300 yuan per ton. The next adjustment window is at 24:00 on July 31.

US executives are selling shares at the second-fastest pace in more than 20 years, according to Bloomberg, a level some investors view as a warning sign because corporate insiders may be signaling caution on markets.
The article says the pace of insider selling is near a record, underscoring concerns among those with the most company-specific information.

Gold was on track for its biggest weekly decline since early June as renewed hostilities in the Middle East lifted bets that the US Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates to curb inflation, according to Bloomberg.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange said banks settled 20,299 billion yuan and sold 16,437 billion yuan in June 2026. According to Jin10, banks settled a cumulative 107,923 billion yuan and sold a cumulative 89,192 billion yuan in January-June 2026.
In U.S. dollar terms, banks settled $297.8 billion and sold $241.2 billion in June 2026. They settled a cumulative $1.5654 trillion and sold a cumulative $1.2942 trillion in January-June 2026.
Banks’ customer foreign-related receipts totaled 60,951 billion yuan in June 2026, while payments totaled 58,420 billion yuan. According to Jin10, cumulative customer foreign-related receipts reached 324,291 billion yuan and payments totaled 307,223 billion yuan in January-June 2026.
In dollar terms, customer foreign-related receipts were $894.3 billion and payments were $857.2 billion in June 2026. Cumulative customer foreign-related receipts reached $4.7056 trillion and payments totaled $4.4584 trillion in January-June 2026.

Global stocks fell sharply on Friday as investors pulled out of AI and technology shares. According to Jin10, Japan's tech-heavy Nikkei 225 Index dropped more than 6% intraday, and a Tokyo brokerage source said it was one of the worst trading days in Tokyo in a long time.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a weaker open, while Euro Stoxx 600 futures indicated European equities may open 0.6% lower. ANZ chief economist and head of research Richard Yetsenga said the decline exposed how unsettlingly dependent many markets and much economic activity have become on the AI boom.

China plans to end a decade-long consumption tax exemption for solar and lithium-ion batteries, a policy shift as Beijing seeks to curb intense competition in industries central to the clean-energy transition, according to Bloomberg.

U.S. Treasury yields rose and Treasury spread moves were mixed, while the Gold Dragon Index extended gains for a second day to a one-month high and U.S. stocks fell, according to Ming Pao reported.
U.S. military strikes on Iran continued for several days, shipping volumes through the Strait of Hormuz kept declining, and U.S. President Donald Trump was due to deliver a nationwide address later. U.S. June retail sales growth also slowed, and two Federal Reserve regional presidents warned about overheating inflation.

Shares of mining equipment makers Sandvik AB and Epiroc AB fell after weaker precious metals prices since the start of the year weighed on orders, according to Bloomberg. The decline in demand was linked to the drop in precious metal prices.

Michael Burry, the investor made famous in The Big Short, said it is a good time to chase bargains in Hong Kong’s stock market, which has lagged during this year’s global AI rally, according to Bloomberg.
Burry recommended bargain hunting in the market, giving a bullish view on Hong Kong stocks after their weaker performance relative to the broader rally.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said SK Hynix shares will remain on a long-term upward trend, supported by demand for memory chips. According to Odaily, he made the remarks at a forum hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.
Chey said demand for memory chips is growing exponentially, which is why SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics shares have risen rapidly since last year. Asked about recent share-price declines, he said stock prices usually rise on market expectations and then pull back after an excessive rally. He added that memory chip demand will continue and that share prices will move higher over time.
On Thursday, SK Hynix and Samsung shares fell 12% and 8.8%, respectively, after South Korean authorities moved to restrict leveraged funds tracking chipmakers.

Bernstein raised its 2026 gold price target to $4,533 per ounce, citing central banks' ongoing reserve diversification and expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise rates only once or twice over the next year. According to ChainCatcher, the forecast reflects Bernstein's view that official-sector buying and a limited rate-hike cycle could support gold prices.

South Korea-related stocks were sold off in other markets after the country’s exchange closed for Constitution Day. According to Odaily, South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics still saw declines elsewhere, with Southern double-long SK Hynix down 17.8% and Southern double-long Samsung down 14.7% after the Hong Kong market opened.

Kioxia Holdings Corp.'s market capitalization has halved in a month after the Japanese memory chipmaker briefly became Japan's most valuable company, according to Bloomberg.
Investors are growing concerned the AI-driven rally in the sector has run too far.

Chip stocks extended losses and pushed Asian markets lower, with the CSI 300 Index heading toward its lowest level in more than three months. The STAR 50 Index and the ChiNext Index both fell more than 8% at their intraday lows before trimming declines, according to Ming Pao.
Earlier in the session, trading in eight ETFs, including the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF, surged in the afternoon.

Southbound funds recorded a net sell of 1.457 billion yuan today. According to Jin10, via Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Meituan-W and Alibaba-W were the top net sellers at 966 million Hong Kong dollars and 962 million Hong Kong dollars, respectively, while Zhipu ranked first in net buying with 1.13 billion Hong Kong dollars. Via Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor were the top net sellers at 2.014 billion Hong Kong dollars and 1.633 billion Hong Kong dollars, respectively, while Tracker Fund of Hong Kong ranked first in net buying with 2.975 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Netflix (NFLX.O) fell as much as 10% in premarket trading. According to Jin10, no further details were provided.

Copper and other base metals fell Friday as they tracked declines in equity markets, with investor concern over artificial-intelligence company valuations deepening, according to Bloomberg.

LNG is expected to become the second-largest net U.S. export industry within five years, according to a study by S&P Global Energy. According to Jin10, the research said LNG could contribute nearly $1.4 trillion to U.S. GDP by 2040.
The study said the U.S. became the first country to export more than 100 million metric tons of LNG in a single year in 2025, helped by new LNG plants that boosted capacity. It also estimated that total investment in the U.S. LNG supply chain will exceed $1 trillion by 2040.
After the lifting of the LNG export pause last year, related capital spending is expected to rise sharply. The study estimated that LNG exports will generate $2.9 trillion in revenue, $206 billion in taxes, and nearly $630 billion in labor income.
It also projected that average U.S. household natural gas costs will rise 1.6% from 2026 to 2031. Export growth is expected to double natural gas supply demand to 36 billion cubic feet per day by 2031.

Micron said it has signed customer agreements with Qualcomm, Visteon, Harman, Joyson Electronics, Denso, Astemo, and Hyundai Mobis. According to Odaily, the agreements are aimed at improving supply and pricing certainty, supporting technology development, certification, and manufacturing capacity investment for future automotive platforms, and securing memory and storage supply for advanced vehicle platforms.

Airbus SE won an order from Air China for 15 A350-900 widebody aircraft and 40 A320neo series jets for its Shenzhen Airlines subsidiary, in a deal valued at about $12.4 billion, according to a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange.
Bloomberg reported the order as a major win for Airbus and a boost to its regional presence.

South Korea’s KOSPI has swung an average of 3.8% a day since the start of June, compared with BTC’s 1.7%. According to NS3.AI, the index fell 6.4% on Thursday and triggered its 37th program-trading halt of 2026. The Financial Services Commission also halted new 2X single-stock ETF listings until markets stabilize.

Volvo Cars Chief Financial Officer said the impact of high oil prices and raw material prices will start to show in the second half of this year. According to Jin10, the remark was made by Volvo Cars' chief financial officer and did not include any additional details.

Hong Kong's total short-selling value rose 19.11% from the previous day to HK$67.508 billion, with the short-selling ratio increasing to 19.43% from 17.55%, according to Ming Pao, marking the highest level since July 7, when it stood at 20.54%.
The short-selling value accounted for 19.43% of total market turnover for the day.