Bank of America: Fund managers’ bullishness on US stocks hits highest level since December 2024.

Payment infrastructure startup Cyclops announced it has closed a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Nava Ventures with participation from Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle, Lasagna Ventures, and GPT Ventures. The firm offers integrated cryptocurrency and stablecoin infrastructure for payment businesses, enabling faster settlements and cross-border transfers without requiring these companies to build related tools in-house. Cyclops aims to boost capital flow efficiency via its stablecoin infrastructure, with the financing coming shortly after its $8 million seed round completed in March this year. Shift4 Payments and Mastercard are already among its existing clients.

U.S. producer price inflation metrics for June came in weaker than expected, indicating that the impact of tensions related to the Iran conflict remains somewhat contained. Data showed that the core Producer Price Index (PPI), which excludes food and energy, rose 4.7% year-over-year and 0.2% month-over-month. Overall PPI growth slowed, with a year-over-year increase of 5.5%. Last month’s drop in energy costs helped ease inflationary pressures, potentially giving the Federal Reserve more room to delay interest rate hikes—especially after Tuesday’s macro data revealed June’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) also came in softer than expected. However, as Middle East tensions flare up again, this respite may not last long. Energy prices fell 6.4% in June, while transportation and warehousing prices also declined. Freight rates remained elevated due to rising fuel costs and a driver shortage caused by the Trump administration’s tightened immigration policies. Meanwhile, food prices fell for the first time in three months. Overall, U.S. food prices have continued to rise this year amid a combination of factors including extreme weather, conflicts, and tariffs.

Key pre-market U.S. stock news overview: 1. U.S. June PPI month-over-month rate: -0.3% (vs. 0% expected); U.S. June PPI year-over-year rate: 5.5% (vs. 6.2% expected). 2. SK Hynix ADRs narrowed their premium over South Korean shares to 30.7%, down from 51.5% at the close of U.S. trading this morning. 3. Buffett said: "It was a mistake that I didn’t invest in Google back then. Based on its current performance, the company is now 'more likely to be a winner'." 4. The semiconductor sector’s weighting in the S&P 500 has risen to 20%, hitting an all-time high. 5. The China-exclusive Apple Intelligence will integrate both Baidu and Alibaba’s AI models. Alibaba confirmed its Qianwen model will be integrated into iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS to provide AI capabilities for Chinese users. Baidu has not yet disclosed specific cooperation details. 6. Samsung is secretly studying the feasibility of listing in the U.S., a plan the company previously denied. 7. ASML’s Q2 results beat all expectations, driven primarily by AI chip demand. Net profit reached €2.92 billion, exceeding the market forecast of €2.62 billion. 8. Morgan Stanley’s equities traders significantly outperformed Wall Street expectations, setting another quarterly record. The bank’s Q2 2026 equities trading revenue hit $6.3 billion, up 69% year-over-year, marking a new quarterly high. 9. Trump held a meeting in the White House Situation Room to discuss a large-scale offensive against Iran; the operation will have a broader scope than current strikes around the Strait of Hormuz. Trump appears intent on escalating the conflict, aiming to inflict sufficient damage to force the Iranian regime to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept his nuclear-related demands.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has surpassed $65,000, with a 2.1% rise in the past 24 hours.

According to HTX market data, Ethereum has surpassed $1,900, with a 4.3% gain over the past 24 hours.

According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, Abraxas Capital is suspected of recently selling Bitcoin to buy Ethereum. Over the past three hours, the firm withdrew 8,153 ETH, worth approximately $15.3 million, from Binance and Bybit, while depositing 618 BTC, valued at around $39.99 million, into Kraken.