U.S. Treasury Department: Today’s Iran sanctions target activities profiting from the Strait of Hormuz

Former senior advisor to the Federal Reserve Jon Foster said he believes the Fed will not raise interest rates today, as he shares the view of FOMC Vice Chair John Williams that "the possibility of gaining a credibility dividend by deliberately surprising the market will not work."

According to Bloomberg data, Bank of America clients remained active buyers of US stocks last week, extending their consecutive buying streak to four weeks. Institutional investors led this trend, logging the largest weekly net purchase since December 2020 — the second-highest level in BofA’s records dating back to 2008. Retail investors also continued buying, while hedge funds posted net selling for the third straight week. The technology, financial, and industrial sectors drew the strongest capital inflows, with the industrial sector seeing record demand after months of outflows. Communication services, energy, and materials sectors were the weakest performers.

According to GMGN data, the on-chain meme coin PIPEDOG on Robinhood staged a rally tonight after a half-day pullback. As of press time, its market cap stands at $59.89 million, with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $57.7 million. However, constrained by the overall liquidity of the Robinhood chain, while PIPEDOG rallied, multiple tokens in the Robinhood ecosystem suffered "siphoning"—STONKBROKER, PONS, and others all saw short-term drops. It should be noted that this meme coin was not issued via Robinhood’s official launch platform; its issuer remains anonymous, and multiple data points indicate severe signs of insider trading: multiple group addresses acquired large token holdings in the early stage of issuance. That said, the token’s on-chain locking of a substantial liquidity pool has won favor from some users. BlockBeats reminds users that this token carries significant uncertainty, so investors should exercise caution.

Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) issued a statement refuting online rumors that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruled on July 28 that all 19 claims of YMTC’s core 3D NAND patents are invalid, calling the information seriously misleading. The claim that "YMTC-related concept stocks plummeted across the board" is maliciously fabricated based on the misleading information, and such descriptions are grossly inconsistent with facts. The statement added that since November 2023, YMTC has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Micron Technology in the U.S., involving 27 patents and 295 patent claims, which is still in progress. YMTC does not comment on ongoing litigation, and relevant updates are available via public channels.

Tom Lee posted on X that today’s FOMC meeting is expected to hold interest rates steady. His team reviewed comments from 12 voting members since the June meeting: 3 are hawkish, 2 dovish, and Warsh holds a neutral stance. However, the FOMC may announce a resumption of quantitative tightening (QT). Currently, the monthly balance sheet reduction pace stands at zero; this move amounts to a stealth rate hike without launching formal tightening policy. Uncertainty surrounding the new Fed could lead to restored market clarity after the statement. As a result, Tom Lee expects stocks to perform better post-FOMC, particularly AI laggards like Micron, which has fallen 41% from its peak, with its forward P/E dropping to 5.372x, below the 10-year average of 6.524x, showing a significant valuation discount.

According to Israeli media outlet i24News, senior Israeli officials said centrifuges are located at Iran's Fordow site, though uranium enrichment activities have not yet started.