MicroStrategy bought another 2,530 $BTC($243M) at an average price of $95,972 last week!

Federal Reserve officials signaled Wednesday local time on June 18 that a dramatic policy shift is taking shape: amid persistent rapid inflation, they may soon need to raise interest rates instead of cutting them. Evercore ISI analyst Krishna Guha pointed out that declining energy prices could bring some economic relief in the coming months, but he warned the interest rate outlook has decoupled from oil trends—leaving deep uncertainty about whether inflation will cool enough to avoid further rate hikes. Beyond energy, two key inflation pressures remain: ongoing pass-through effects from tariffs, and cost spillovers driven by the boom in AI infrastructure investment. Claudia Sam, chief economist at New Century Advisors and a former Fed economist, noted that the standard conditions for the Fed to act on supply-side inflation—an overheated labor market or unanchored inflation expectations—have not yet materialized. Still, she said the case for action is building. “I understand the view

June 18 (Caixin) — Andrew Left, founder of short-selling firm Citron Research, has a sentencing hearing scheduled for August 31, 2026. The theoretical maximum sentence he could face is 265 years, though the final penalty will be determined by the court based on the specific facts of his case. Left has previously targeted over 20 Chinese concept stocks, including New Oriental, Qihoo 360, Evergrande Group, Southeastern Asset Management, and China High Speed Transmission. Early in his career, his short-selling reports were largely accurate, but unlike peers such as Muddy Waters Research, Citron’s work has long been criticized for being riddled with flaws. He was also banned from Hong Kong’s stock market for five years by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Prosecutors claim Left regularly used short-dated options expiring between 0 and 5 trading days to bet on stock price movements right after publishing reports or sending out tweets. He placed pre-set limit orders, and the

June 18 – Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital and widely known as the “New Bond King,” told CNBC in a recent appearance that new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s hawkish signal came in stronger than many investors had expected. Gundlach highlighted that Warsh’s repeated emphasis on the Fed’s price stability target reduces the risk of overly loose monetary policy that could reignite inflation, which he said strengthens the case for holding long-term U.S. Treasuries. He added that Warsh has effectively staked his professional reputation on controlling inflation, making a significant interest rate cut far less likely. Currently, U.S. short-term interest rate futures reflect a higher probability of the Federal Reserve raising rates before September than keeping rates unchanged.

On June 18, U.S. President Donald Trump took to social media to announce his plan to bring the semiconductor industry back to America, stating, “It is now clear that America needs to bring the semiconductor industry back to the U.S. We have designed everything, and we need to manufacture in the U.S. now. So I have decided to help Intel, because we need to design and manufacture our chips in America.” To carry out this goal, a series of key partnerships have been finalized: NVIDIA has agreed to collaborate with Intel to produce its top-tier chips; Musk will build TerraFab—the world’s largest chip factory—in partnership with Intel’s technical team; and Apple has signed on to work with Intel to design and manufacture its chips within the U.S. As part of the U.S. government’s support for Intel, the government secured a 10% equity stake in the company. When the government’s offer was extended, Intel was valued at roughly $100 billion. Today, Intel’s valuation has surged to over $600 billi

**June 18 (Financial Times) – Major Wall Street financial firms are ramping up pressure on U.S. regulators, warning that proposed global bank capital rules under the Basel Accord could crimp liquidity in the $29 trillion U.S. Treasury market and urging authorities to rethink the proposal’s market risk controls. Worries about potential instability in that massive Treasury market have become the U.S. banking industry’s latest lobbying priority as Washington works to roll out post-2008 global financial regulatory standards. Under pressure from banks, the Federal Reserve and other regulators have significantly watered down the original draft. The final rules are now expected to not drastically lift overall capital requirements for U.S. banks, and may even reduce required capital levels. Even so, Wall Street firms aren’t done pushing for changes. In a recent letter, eight large U.S. banks estimate the latest proposal would boost capital requirements for their banking operations by 30% to

June 18. According to official announcements from Binance Wallet, the 8th Pre-TGE Prime Sale event project—RE Token (ticker: RE)—will kick off trading on June 18, 2026, at 8:00 PM (UTC+8). Users who have claimed their Prime Sale Keys can check their RE token balances and trade the asset via their Binance Alpha accounts at the scheduled time.