South Korean stocks opened, with the KOSPI index gaining 2.68%.

AI-driven rallies continue to lift U.S. stocks, but a Bank of America research report warns the current market is showing traits similar to the late stages of the 1999 dot-com bubble. The most prominent red flags include extreme concentration in the S&P 500, active stock-picking activity hitting a record low, and persistent capital flows chasing a small handful of AI winners. Recent plans by NVIDIA, in partnership with Wall Street giants, to raise $500 billion for AI infrastructure have further stoked these concerns. Optimists argue this will provide longer-term funding channels for AI clients, supporting demand for chips, data centers, and computing power; while skeptics worry such arrangements carry a "supplier financing" element, potentially shifting AI capital expenditure from industrial investment to more complex financial structures. Bank of America’s analysis holds that when chipmakers, cloud providers, and large tech firms become the core drivers of index gains, the market’s apparent prosperity may mask underlying vulnerabilities. If large amounts of capital flow passively into the AI stocks with the highest market capitalization weights, and active stock-picking fades, the rally will become more dependent on the performance delivery of a small number of companies. Once AI revenue returns lag behind capital expenditure expansion, index volatility could be amplified.

Intel CEO Chen Liwu will subscribe for Intel common stock totaling $12 million at a public offering price of $95 per share. The relevant details were disclosed in a supplementary prospectus filed by Intel on the same day. The subscription is part of Intel’s latest $20 billion public offering, not a secondary market share purchase. Intel originally planned to issue $15 billion in common stock, later expanding the offering size to $20 billion for a total of 210,526,315 shares, and granted underwriters an option to buy up to an additional 31,578,947 shares within 30 days.

Citigroup maintains a bullish outlook on the US stock earnings cycle in its latest report. Citi’s equity strategy team led by Scott Chronert lifted its 2026 S&P 500 EPS forecast from $350 to $365, while holding its year-end target of 8,100 points steady. The bank points out that second-quarter earnings results show US equities still have upside in revenue and margins, with corporate earnings resilience stronger than previously anticipated. This assessment comes as US stocks hit new highs: following July’s weaker-than-expected US Producer Price Index (PPI) reading, market concerns over Federal Reserve policy pressure eased, and the S&P 500 remains near its all-time high. Citi argues the rally is not driven solely by valuation expansion; upward earnings revisions are providing fresh support for the index. However, artificial intelligence (AI) remains a key variable for hitting the 8,100 target. The bank notes that AI-related sectors continue to be critical to the index’s earnings contributions. If AI infrastructure, semiconductors, cloud services, and power chains keep delivering revenue, the market will more readily accept elevated valuations. Meanwhile, Citi stresses the rally has room to broaden, as improved earnings across more sectors will help US equities move beyond their current structure of relying solely on a small number of tech giants.

Standard Chartered’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoff Kendrick, stated that his earlier $100 price target for Uniswap (UNI) by 2030 may still be too low, mainly due to a significant acceleration in Uniswap’s protocol revenue used to repurchase and burn UNI tokens. Data shows that between July 27 and August 12, Uniswap’s average daily protocol revenue reached approximately $244,000, a 2.4x increase from the $99,800 daily average over the prior 17 days. Annualized at the current pace, UNI token burns would total around $89.1 million. At UNI’s current price, this burn rate equals roughly 4% of its circulating supply destroyed annually, and with more partnerships like Robinhood emerging, long-term burn volumes could expand further. Notably, Robinhood Chain has contributed the majority of Uniswap’s recent protocol revenue: over the past seven days, Uniswap generated about $925,000 in protocol revenue from Robinhood Chain, accounting for roughly 60% of its total $1.55 million in protocol revenue in that period. Kendrick previously forecast a $6.5 price target for UNI by the end of 2026, adding that even at that price, the current burn rate would still translate to an annualized rate of approximately 2.2%.

The largest on-chain $BTC bear, 0x66f8, has closed his 2,136 $BTC($136M) short, making a $1.65M profit. He then flipped long, opening a 40x long on 200.82 $BTC($12.74M).

Insane! A whale has placed ~$203.47M worth of $SPCX limit short orders at $141.93–$142.90.