Federal Reserve Chair Walsh plans to appoint two senior central bank economists as advisors.

According to Bitget market data, both U.S. WTI and Brent crude oil rose more than 3%. WTI crude is priced at $78.53, while Brent crude trades at $84.06. On the news front, Iran announced it is nearing an agreement with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though Tehran remains unwilling to resume direct talks with the U.S. until relevant conditions are fulfilled. Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said an agreement could be imminent, but Trump later noted the U.S. is currently only in a "semi-negotiation" phase and intends to keep applying economic pressure on Iran. Investors continue to evaluate how the Strait of Hormuz situation will impact energy markets and the global economy.

According to a report from The Information, Microsoft (MSFT.O)’s self-developed AI chip project has shown signs of recovery after a slow start. Microsoft believes its in-house MAIA chip can run both the company’s self-developed models and OpenAI’s models at lower costs. The company plans to increase its own use of MAIA chips, actively target large clients, and significantly ramp up production of the chips. It is reported that Microsoft plans to launch its next-generation MAIA 300 AI chip in September 2026. Microsoft has been in discussions with TSMC (TSM.N) to secure production capacity for more than 300,000 MAIA chips, with deliveries scheduled for 2027.

According to monitoring by @EmberCN, Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy sold 1,690 BTC again last week, with its per-sale price $11,123 lower than its average cost, resulting in a realized loss of $18.8 million. It currently holds 840,447 BTC worth $54.742 billion, with an average cost of $75,385 per BTC, posting an unrealized loss of $8.615 billion (-13.6%). Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine purchased 7,391 ETH last week at an average price of ~$1,888, totaling $13.95 million. The firm now holds a total of 5,805,238 ETH worth $11.152 billion, with an average cost of $3,369 per ETH, leading to an unrealized loss of $8.406 billion (-43%).

Anthropic has formed strategic partnerships with Macquarie and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC to build data centers for Claude developers. The newly established entity, named Theseus Infrastructure, will serve as the vehicle for developing AI computing sites, with an initial focus on the U.S. Macquarie and GIC have committed to providing the majority of equity funding for each project, while Anthropic has pledged to cover any increases in consumer electricity prices stemming from these facilities.

Key pre-market news for US stocks on Monday: 1. Intel fell over 5% in pre-market trading as the chipmaker plans to raise $15 billion to expand its AI investments, joining the AI infrastructure financing wave. 2. BitMine added 7,391 ETH to its holdings last week, lifting its total ETH position to 5,805,238. The firm’s staked Ethereum holdings rose to 5,067,309, accounting for 87% of its total holdings, with current annualized staking yield standing at around $257 million. 3. Nvidia plans to invest up to $30 billion in Lancium to support AI data center power infrastructure. 4. Jefferies downgraded Apple’s stock rating from "Hold" to "Underperform" and cut its price target for the tech giant from $285.56 to $263.66. 5. TSMC reported July revenue of NT$467.58 billion, up 44.7% year-over-year. The semiconductor giant and Sony plan to jointly invest around ￥1 trillion to develop and manufacture next-generation image sensor chips. 6. Strategy sold 1,690 BTC last week, bringing its U.S. dollar reserve to $4.65 billion. 7. Meta launched a lightweight AI model called Muse Glimmer, an open-source model available for free download and "runnable on a single local GPU". 8. Berkshire Hathaway has deployed over $3.3 billion to repurchase its own shares between Q3 (July 1) and July 29. 9. Archer Aviation rose over 18% in pre-market trading as Boeing plans to invest in and partner with the eVTOL aircraft maker.

White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett has stated that if Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is removed from her post over related allegations, he will not take over her position. Hassett noted that the allegations against Cook are matters for law enforcement to investigate, adding that he "hopes Cook is innocent". Earlier, Cook is challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to oust her from her Federal Reserve Governor role. On monetary policy, Hassett said that if he were involved in decision-making, he would lean toward keeping current interest rates steady or cutting them. He believes U.S. inflation is easing, while supply-side growth momentum remains strong, creating space for a more accommodative policy environment.