This Week's Highlights: South Korea Tightens Regulations on Single Stock Leveraged ETFs; US Inflation Cools; US-Iran Conflict Escalates

On July 18, global markets focused on key events this week, including Federal Reserve policies, the Middle East situation, South Korean financial regulations, and the AI industry:

· US inflation cools, but the Federal Reserve maintains a cautious stance. The US June CPI and PPI both fell short of expectations, leading the market to lower interest rate hike predictions. However, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Walsh stated that a single month's data is insufficient to confirm that inflation is under control, and the Fed will continue to prioritize restoring price stability.

· The US-Iran conflict continues to escalate. The US military has conducted airstrikes on Iranian targets for several consecutive days, while Iran has expanded its attacks on US military bases and related facilities in the Middle East, reiterating that it will not accept US interference in the affairs of the Strait of Hormuz. The White House stated that both sides remain in communication, but Iran emphasized its commitment to the principle of "commitment for commitment."

· South Korea tightens regulations on single stock leveraged ETFs. The South Korean Financial Services Commission announced a suspension of new listings for single stock leveraged ETFs, raising the investment margin from 10 million won to 30 million won and increasing the minimum trading unit to reduce the amplification effect of high-leverage products on market volatility.

· Changxin Technology's IPO is booming. The issuance price for Changxin Technology has been set at 8.66 yuan per share, with the number of valid online subscription accounts reaching 9.4288 million. The final online winning rate rose to 0.4714%, setting a new record for IPOs on the STAR Market, with expected fundraising of up to 66.6 billion yuan.

· The US plans to impose a 25% tariff on certain Brazilian goods. The US announced that starting July 22, it will impose a 25% tariff on certain imported Brazilian goods, involving contentious areas such as digital trade and intellectual property. Brazil stated it will evaluate countermeasures.

· Buffett discusses Alphabet investment and market speculation. Buffett confirmed for the first time that Berkshire's approximately $31 billion investment in Alphabet was led by him, while warning that current market speculation is heating up and stating that he will stop donating to the Gates Foundation in the future.

· SpaceX's Starship aborts its 13th test flight before launch. The Starship automatically aborted the launch about one second after ignition due to an anomaly with some Raptor engines. Musk stated that the engines will be replaced, and the next launch attempt will be made as soon as next week.

· Dark Side of the Moon releases Kimi K3. Dark Side of the Moon launched the open-source large model Kimi K3, with a parameter scale of 2.8 trillion, supporting 1 million token contexts and multimodal capabilities, which the official claims is the largest open-source model in the world.

· Major Wall Street banks report second-quarter earnings that generally exceed expectations. Banks such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley benefited from a recovery in trading and investment banking, with capital market operations becoming the main driver of profit growth in this round.