Overnight US Stock Market | Brent Oil Surpasses $100, Major Indexes Plunge, Google (GOOG.US) Drops 7% After Earnings

SWT Finance APP reports that on Thursday, the three major indices plummeted and Brent crude oil prices broke above the $100 per barrel mark. U.S. Treasury yields rose alongside oil prices, with the 10-year Treasury yield climbing to its highest level since January 2025. Trump posted on his social media platform: "From now on, whenever the Islamic Republic of Iran opens fire on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, whether by missile, rocket, drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy a bridge or power plant, including such facilities located in or near the capital city, Tehran."

[U.S. Stocks] At the close, the Dow Jones fell 507.59 points, or 0.97%, to 51,710.99; the Nasdaq dropped 553.21 points, or 2.15%, to 25,137.69; the S&P 500 dropped 90.78 points, or 1.21%, to 7,408.18. Micron Technology (MU.US) rose 3%; SK Hynix (SKHY.US) rose 2.5%; Google (GOOG.US) dropped 7%, Tesla (TSLA.US) fell 14.5%, SpaceX (SPCX.US) rose more than 2%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index fell 0.57%, Alibaba (BABA.US) dropped 2%.

[European Stocks] Germany's DAX30 fell 419.90 points, or 1.67%, to 24,754.20; the UK's FTSE 100 dropped 77.81 points, or 0.73%, to 10,639.16; France's CAC40 declined 138.80 points, or 1.64%, to 8,299.09; the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 107.64 points, or 1.70%, to 6,209.35; Spain's IBEX35 declined 326.19 points, or 1.67%, to 19,245.11; and Italy's FTSE MIB dropped 1,470.04 points, or 2.78%, to 51,322.00.

[Asian Markets] The Nikkei 225 rose 0.46%, and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 4.4%.

[U.S. Dollar Index] The dollar index, which measures the dollar against six major currencies, rose 0.32% to close at 101.445 in the foreign exchange market. By the close in New York, 1 euro exchanged for 1.1377 USD, down from 1.1411 USD the previous session; 1 pound exchanged for 1.3318 USD, down from the previous 1.3373 USD. 1 dollar exchanged for 163.80 yen, up from 163.13 yen previously; 1 dollar exchanged for 0.8169 Swiss francs, up from 0.8146 Swiss francs previously; 1 dollar exchanged for 1.4076 Canadian dollars, down from 1.4085 Canadian dollars previously; 1 dollar exchanged for 9.7663 Swedish krona, up from 9.7014 Swedish krona previously.

[Cryptocurrencies] Bitcoin fell over 1% to $65,179.73; Ethereum dropped over 2.8% to $1,882.72.

[Crude Oil] International oil prices surged on the 23rd. At the close, the September delivery light crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $5.36 to close at $92.19 per barrel, up 6.17%; September delivery London Brent crude oil futures rose $6.62, closing above $100 for the first time since May at $100.69 per barrel, up 7.04%.

[Precious Metals] Spot gold was quoted at $4,049.21; spot silver at $57.647.

[Macroeconomic News]

The U.S. imposes 10%-12.5% tariffs on 60 economies. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced on the 23rd that, in accordance with Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and under the pretext of "forced labor," the U.S. will impose a 10%-12.5% tariff on dozens of countries and regions, replacing the soon-to-expire global import tariff. The new tariffs will take effect on Eastern Time 24th (12:00 noon Beijing time 24th). According to the USTR, as the 10% global tariff expires, this round will affect 60 economies, covering over 99% of U.S. trade volume. Senior U.S. officials said related tariff measures for goods in transit will take effect at 12:01 am Eastern Time July 28 (12:01 pm Beijing time July 28). Imports of fuel, food, and fertilizers will be exempt from the new tariffs; products already subject to industry-specific tariffs (such as cars, metals, and pharmaceuticals) are also excluded. In addition, goods under the scope of the USMCA agreement will be exempted. U.S. officials pointed out that the new tariffs will not be stacked on top of existing steel and aluminum import tariffs—the "Section 232" tariffs introduced by Trump last year for national security reasons.

The ECB is considering raising reserve requirements to ease heavy loss pressure. The European Central Bank is exploring various options to ease its own financial losses, and related discussions are expected to enter a critical stage this autumn. ECB President Christine Lagarde said policymakers will discuss raising the minimum reserve requirement, i.e., increasing the share of commercial bank funds held in non-interest-bearing accounts at the ECB. In addition, the ECB is evaluating a "tiered interest rate mechanism" that would stop paying interest on some excess reserves, as well as options such as charging fees to banks. These measures aim to reduce the burden on various national central banks and offset some of the losses incurred from stimulus policies over the past decade. Due to the ECB's large asset purchases from 2015 to 2022 and large interest payments to banks following rapid rate hikes in 2022-2023, the euro-system is facing loss pressure. Sources indicate that significant disagreements remain in discussions around this politically sensitive issue.

[Individual Stock News]

Intel's revenue and outlook beat expectations; after-hours stock price once rose 13%. Intel (INTC.US) issued unexpectedly strong revenue guidance, indicating that surging data center spending is helping the chipmaker achieve a long-awaited recovery. The company expects third-quarter sales of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion. Even the lower end of that range comfortably exceeds analysts’ average estimate of $15.1 billion. This outlook underscores Intel’s momentum with data center clients, who are urgently seeking chips to meet the demands of artificial intelligence computing. Last quarter, sales in this segment soared 59%, more than twice the growth rate of Intel’s overall revenue. After the results were released, Intel shares rose as much as 13% in after-hours trading. In addition, Intel's Q2 revenue reached $16.13 billion, also higher than the market’s expectation of $14.43 billion.

AMD (AMD.US) raises AI accelerator market size forecast to $1.4 trillion; officially launches rack-level AI system Helios. The AMD Advancing AI conference was held July 22-23 in San Francisco. At the event, AMD CEO Lisa Su stated that the artificial intelligence accelerator market is expected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2030, with the global data center CPU market set to reach $220 billion and the global computing market reaching $2 trillion. Additionally, AMD officially launched its first rack-level AI system, Helios. Su said Helios is now in full production and will begin shipping soon. Analysts noted that a year ago, Su’s forecast for the AI accelerator market by 2028 was $500 billion. According to the latest forecast, by the end of this decade, the scale will be roughly equivalent to today’s "entire semiconductor market." Su stated that GPUs will account for the majority of the share.

[Major Bank Ratings]

Morgan Stanley: Raises Apple (AAPL.US) target price from $360 to $364 per share; lowers Alphabet (GOOG.US) target price from $415 to $400 per share.