Point of View: The Federal Reserve Has Over-Eased, with a 65% Chance of Stagflation in the United States

Korea Exchange has activated the sidecar mechanism for the KOSPI, suspending program trading for 5 minutes.

According to Bitget's market data, the Nikkei 225 index touched 63,000 points intraday, gaining 2.00% on the day.

Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy released its second-quarter financial results, posting an $8.2 billion loss, compared to a $10 billion profit in the year-ago period. The loss stemmed primarily from unrealized paper losses on its Bitcoin holdings. As of press time, Strategy’s stock edged up 0.01% in after-hours trading. The company said its Bitcoin holdings rose 11% in Q2, hitting a peak of 846,000 BTC before it began selling off some of the assets. As of the latest filing, Strategy holds 843,775 BTC. Year-to-date, the firm has sold roughly $218 million worth of Bitcoin to cover preferred stock dividend payments. It had paused Bitcoin purchases for five consecutive weeks, prioritizing instead to expand its U.S. dollar cash reserves. At the end of June, Strategy rolled out its Digital Credit Capital Framework, which plans to build a minimum U.S. dollar reserve covering 12 months of preferred stock dividends and interest expenses, and authorized a maximum $1.25 billion Bitcoin monetization program to replenish reserves or fund dividend payments. CEO Phong Le noted that the company cut its convertible bond size by 18% to $6.7 billion in Q2, while lifting its U.S. dollar reserves by 12% to $2.4 billion. CFO Andrew Kang added that the firm’s current U.S. dollar reserves total around $3.75 billion, enough to cover related expenses for roughly two years, and it has made on-time dividend payments for 18 consecutive months.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index rose 11% at the open, SK Hynix surged 18%, and Samsung Electronics jumped 15%.

According to Bitget's market data, South Korea's KOSPI index saw its early-session gain surge to 13%. Heavyweight stock SK Hynix's gain expanded to 24%, while Samsung Electronics' share price rose over 20%.

Apple released its third-quarter financial results after U.S. stock market hours. The company’s revenue reached $109.4 billion, beating expectations and rising roughly 16% year-over-year. iPhone and Mac sales were strong, but its fourth-quarter revenue guidance came in below expectations due to memory shortages, while revenue from China and services also missed forecasts, leading to a post-market decline in its share price. This was Tim Cook’s final earnings release as Apple’s CEO, with John Ternus set to take over the role in September. However, the results failed to lift its share price. According to market data from BIT (bit.com), Apple’s shares closed down 1.4% in regular trading ahead of the earnings announcement, and extended losses to over 4% in after-hours trading following the release.