South Korea's KOSPI index closed 18% higher today, while it has dropped 22% this month, notching the second-largest monthly decline in its history.

According to Bloomberg, Situational Awareness, an AI-themed hedge fund founded by 25-year-old Wall Street "AI stock guru" and former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, attempted to sell some of its private company equity holdings this week to raise cash to meet a series of margin calls from lenders. People familiar with the matter stated that while seeking buyers for part of its positions, the struggling hedge fund approached multiple venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks. Today’s reports further note that after Situational Awareness’s net value fell roughly 67% this month, it was forced to offload assets to Citadel and is now seeking new capital infusions.

According to Bitget's market data, the Euro Stoxx 600 index has broken the record closing high set on July 3.

Japanese semiconductor firm Kioxia released its financial results today. The company’s net profit for the first quarter stood at 842.17 billion yen, up from 18.28 billion yen in the same period last year, but fell short of the market consensus estimate of 973.81 billion yen. Driven by sustained strong demand for NAND flash memory fueled by artificial intelligence (AI), Kioxia’s profit remains at a historic high. However, the underperformance against market expectations indicates that the AI-driven storage boom has already been fully priced in by the market, which may trigger a short-term cooling of investor sentiment. Going forward, attention should be paid to the company’s full-year performance guidance and the impact of NAND supply-demand dynamics on its profitability.

Recently, CSOP’s 2x SK Hynix bull product has become a market focus due to sharp price swings. As of July 30, SK Hynix has fallen 49% from its June peak, while the net value of the 2x SK Hynix bull product has suffered a cumulative drawdown of over 80%, with its size shrinking by roughly HK$100 billion from HK$130 billion. After the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong released new rules last week, CSOP issued an announcement this Monday stating that starting August 3, all of its leveraged and inverse products linked to 12 popular overseas stocks including SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, Tesla, and NVIDIA will fully switch to a "flexible leverage structure." This move has sparked investor skepticism, as if the manager actively reduces leverage, should SK Hynix rebound quickly afterward, the ETF’s net value recovery will slow significantly, and the payback period for investors who bought at high levels will be extended. On the evening of July 30, CSOP clarified in response to market questions about the product’s switch to the "flexible leverage structure" and potential leverage reduction, stating that under current market conditions, the product is expected to maintain a 2x leverage, and the fund manager will not make any active adjustments to the leverage multiple based on their own market judgment. CSOP emphasized that after the relevant changes take effect, it will release announcements regarding the target leverage multiple before each trading day opens. Taking this product as an example, the announcement will be issued after the close of trading on July 31, and investors are requested to pay close attention. (Source: 21st Century Business Herald)

According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index closed up 2,494.59 points on Friday, July 31, with a 4.03% gain, ending at 64,362.02 points. Chip stocks led the rally, while the Nikkei 225 has declined 8% cumulatively this month.

Kioxia reported first-quarter operating profit of 1.27 trillion yen, compared with 44.9 billion yen in the same period last year, and below the market consensus estimate of 1.37 trillion yen. Net profit for the quarter reached 842.17 billion yen, versus 18.28 billion yen a year earlier, also missing the market forecast of 973.81 billion yen. The company announced a 1-for-3 stock split and a share repurchase plan.