Prospect Markets Reaches Final Agreement with Crypto.com to Enter U.S. Prediction Market Sector

Against the backdrop of escalating US-Canada trade tensions and rising energy prices, markets widely expect the Bank of Canada (BoC) to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25% this Wednesday, marking the central bank’s seventh consecutive hold. The US has already imposed a 50% tariff on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, while Canada plans to levy retaliatory tariffs on certain US products starting September 8. Meanwhile, driven by rising oil prices, Canada’s overall inflation rate has climbed to 3%, hitting its highest level since 2023, leaving the BoC facing a stagflation dilemma: tariffs weighing on economic growth while energy costs fuel inflation. While Canada’s annualized second-quarter GDP growth rebounded to 3.3% and over 180,000 jobs were added between May and July, roughly two-thirds of surveyed economists have cut their corporate investment forecasts due to the trade war. Markets now widely anticipate that the BoC’s next rate hike may not come until the first half of 2027.

After rising nearly 10% in August, international spot gold has pulled back sharply, with market expectations for further gains cooling significantly. Polymarket data shows the probability of gold hitting $5,000 per ounce by year-end is just over 50%, the chance of reaching $4,500 is almost certain, while the likelihood of hitting $6,000 has dropped to around 13%; the probability of a short-term return to $4,700 is less than one-third. Affected by the Federal Reserve’s hawkish signals, U.S. Treasury yields, and rising oil prices, spot gold fell more than 2% at one point Tuesday to around $4,350 per ounce, a notable pullback from its previous high of roughly $4,697. After Fed Chair Waller delivered hawkish signals at the Jackson Hole Annual Meeting, market bets on a September rate hike rose to about 66%, and the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed to approximately 4.78%. Meanwhile, Brent crude oil broke above $91 per barrel, further intensifying inflationary pressures. Still, gold’s long-term bullish narrative has not faded: concerns over fiscal deficits, expanding government debt, and the U.S. dollar’s purchasing power continue to underpin gold prices. Citi forecasts gold will rise to $5,000 over the next 6 to 12 months, and has raised its short-term target to $4,800. The market will now turn its focus to U.S. employment and inflation data to gauge whether gold bulls can regain momentum.

Beating AI News (from Dongcha) – Zhipu AI announced that its GLM Coding Plan has reached its first anniversary since launch, and has issued a reset card to all active subscribers. After using the card, both the 5-hour and weekly quotas will be fully replenished immediately, without waiting for their respective refresh cycles.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, the mysterious whale address 0x6436 purchased another 141,442 HYPE tokens today, valued at roughly $11.88 million. Earlier, on August 30, the same whale address bought 243,713 HYPE tokens for $20.24 million; between August 25 and 27, it acquired 387,952 HYPE tokens via Hyperliquid, OKX, Bybit, and Gate, totaling $31.5 million.

Multiple Wall Street institutions have recently released their latest stock ratings, issuing positive assessments for firms including Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, SpaceX, Cisco, Airbnb, and Uber. Baird reaffirmed its "Outperform the Market" rating for Nvidia, noting the chipmaker remains a top large-cap pick thanks to its leading market share and sustained growth in its inference business. Bank of America reiterated a "Buy" rating for Microsoft, raising its target price from $500 to $600, citing accelerated Azure growth as further validation of its AI strategy. JPMorgan reaffirmed an "Overweight" rating for Apple, arguing that despite an expected decline in global smartphone shipments in 2026, the tech giant will benefit from rising market share in the premium device segment. Bernstein reaffirmed an "Outperform the Market" rating for SpaceX, stating that the new launch facility at its Louisiana Starbase site will provide critical infrastructure for future Starship launches and orbital data center construction. Separately, Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on Cisco with a "Buy" rating; Rosenblatt initiated coverage on Uber and Airbnb, assigning "Buy" ratings with target prices of $100 and $220 respectively; KeyBanc initiated coverage on eToro with an "Overweight" rating; Piper Sandler upgraded Tempus AI’s rating to "Overweight", lifting its target price from $56 to $76; Evercore ISI upgraded Duolingo’s rating to "Outperform the Market". Other rating actions include: UBS downgrading Interactive Brokers from "Buy" to "Neutral"; Bank of America upgrading Timken to "Buy"; Citigroup initiating positive catalyst coverage on Howmet Aerospace; and BMO upgrading Park Hotels & Resorts to "Outperform the Market".

Gwangju Police Agency in South Korea announced today that it has arrested and indicted four Uzbek nationals on charges of allegedly providing funds to the UN-listed terrorist group Katiba Tawhid wal-Jihad (KTJ) via cryptocurrency. The four were arrested in April this year on suspicion of violating South Korea’s Act on the Prohibition of Funding Terrorism; one is the main suspect, who was previously listed on Interpol’s Red Notice. Police stated that between August 2024 and April 2025, the main suspect transferred a total of 4,267 USDT to KTJ through seven transactions. He is also suspected of receiving cryptocurrency from KTJ, using the funds to purchase 11 used cars and two excavators worth approximately 170 million won (around $121,000), before transporting the vehicles and equipment to Syria. The other three suspects are accused of assisting in procurement and export. South Korean police noted that previous terror-related cases mainly involved one-way fund transfers to terrorist groups, while this case marks the first discovery of a fund cycle model: "receiving cryptocurrency from a terror group and then returning it in the form of physical goods." The main suspect denied the core allegations, claiming the funds were used for household expenses and that he was unaware of the actual buyers of the vehicles.