The big week opened rough. Oil spiked as Trump reimposed a Hormuz blockade and floated a 20% transit fee, dragging chips and the Nasdaq lower. Now the real test arrives tonight: US June CPI lands at the same time the five biggest banks report. Add Waller warning a hike may be coming and Apple suing OpenAI. Let's dig in 👇

📊 Quick Recap — What Moved & Why

🇺🇸 US — Oil Up, Chips Down, CPI Looms

🔑 Key Event: A risk-off start. 📉 Dow -0.26% to 52,498, S&P 500 -0.79% to 7,515, Nasdaq -1.55% to 25,873, dragged by chips as oil surged. The catalyst tonight is huge: June CPI drops the same morning JPMorgan, Goldman, BofA, Wells Fargo and Citi all report. Fed's Waller added pressure, saying a rate hike may be needed "in the near term" if core inflation stays hot (markets now price ~40% odds for July).

👀 Other to Watch

• Apple (AAPL) → last Friday's lawsuit against OpenAI for trade-secret theft is still in focus, alleging its hardware push (via ex-Apple staff and the Jony Ive io deal) lifted Apple IP "at every level." A stunning turn for two former partners.
• Intel (INTC) → announced a €5B ($5.7B) expansion of its Leixlip, Ireland campus for next-gen Xeon chips, trying to stay in the AI race.
• SpaceX (SPCX) → still below its IPO price, though bulls are stepping in with buy-the-dip arguments.

@gedebe : "Is it a bubble or a healthy sell off? Micron has risen more than 9 times in the past year. To me the valuation is stretched, but analysts expect the memory shortage to continue until 2027. BofA still sees room up to US$1,550."

🇭🇰 HK/China — HK Holds, Mainland Slides

🔑 Key Event: A split regional session. HSI edged up 0.2% to 24,213, an outlier as mainland stocks fell hard (Shanghai Composite -2.06% to ~3,913) on the US-Iran escalation. Hang Seng Tech slipped about 1%.

👀 Other to Watch

• CXMT (ChangXin Memory) → China's top DRAM maker opens subscription July 16 for a $4.3B Shanghai STAR IPO, the largest-ever listing on the STAR Market; Alibaba Cloud is a strategic investor. A direct play on China's memory self-sufficiency push.

🇸🇬 Singapore — Records at Home, No.2 for Global Money

🔑 Key Event: STI extended its run to a seventh straight session, hitting a fresh high around 5,462. The structural story got a boost too: Singapore was named the world's second-largest FDI recipient in 2025 (US$151B inflows), behind only the US.

👀 Other to Watch

• Singtel (Z74) → launched the first multi-operator enterprise eSIM network for IoT with Thales, Optus, AIS and Globe, letting firms manage devices across countries on one system.
• Frasers Property (TQ5) → drew ~5,900 visitors to the first preview of Dunearn House in Bukit Timah Turf City; bookings open July 25.
• IHH (Q0F) → launched a preventive-health and longevity programme, "Healthspan."

@investingguru : "Another long-term holding in my portfolio is Keppel DC REIT. As demand for cloud, AI and digital infrastructure grows, data centres have become increasingly important. I'm focused on accumulating quality income assets and letting compounding do its work."

🌍 Other

• 🛢️ Oil & Hormuz → Brent jumped nearly 10% (toward $78) and WTI rose about 8.7% to ~$77.6 (a one-month high) after Trump reimposed a blockade on Iranian shipping and floated a 20% transit fee on other Hormuz cargo (roughly $32M for a supertanker). Iran says the strait is "closed"; the US denies it.
• 💵 Rates → the two-year Treasury yield climbed and rate-hike odds rose ahead of tonight's CPI; the whole week now hinges on the inflation read.

📅 Key Events Tonight / This Week

• 🇺🇸 June CPI + JPMorgan, Goldman, BofA, Wells Fargo, Citi earnings · tonight (Tue Jul 14)
• 🇺🇸 Fed Chair Warsh Congressional testimony · Tue-Wed Jul 14-15
• 🇺🇸 June PPI · Wed Jul 15
• 🇨🇳 TSMC Q2 earnings · Thu Jul 16
• 🇸🇬 Longbridge AI conference + Jensen Huang in Tokyo · Wed Jul 15

💬 Waller just floated a rate hike out loud and CPI lands tonight. Are you positioning for the Fed to actually raise rates this year, or betting this is just hawkish noise before they hold?

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🚫 No duplicates · ⏰ Deadline: July 14, 2026, 11:59 PM SGT

Not investment advice, just market talk 🙏