Huang Renxun has left Beijing, and NVIDIA has not disclosed whether Huang Renxun met with the DeepSeek founder.

According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), at 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time today, CENTCOM launched its third consecutive night of strikes against Iran. The operations will continue to impose heavy costs on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Local time on July 13, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he still believes a deal between the United States and Iran is possible, noting that "Iran wants a deal and has re-engaged with the U.S. side." Trump also stated that U.S. military forces will continue to launch heavy strikes against Iran, significantly weakening Iran’s ability to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the U.S. is restoring an "Iran-specific blockade": any vessel conducting business with Iran will be barred from passage, while other countries and their ships can still transit normally. (CCTV International News)

On the 13th local time, the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), led by the U.S. Navy, stated that the U.S. military began implementing a naval blockade on all Iranian ports and coastal areas at 20:00 GMT on July 14 (04:00 Beijing Time on July 15). The blockade applies to all vessels regardless of their flag, covering the entire Iranian coastline including but not limited to Iranian ports and oil terminals. It will not impede the transit of neutral vessels through the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian destinations; shipments of humanitarian supplies will be allowed to pass but are subject to inspection. Driven by the renewed escalation of U.S.-Iran tensions, both oil prices have surged today. According to Bitget’s market data, WTI crude oil is trading at $78.825, up 6.97% on the day, while Brent crude oil stands at $82.78, with a daily gain of 9.01%.

According to Bitget market data, both WTI and Brent crude oil prices rose more than 6% intraday. Reports say Yemen’s Houthi forces attacked a Saudi airport.

According to Bit.com market data, U.S. stock markets continue to slump, with all three major indexes falling. The Nasdaq once dropped over 1.3%, led by tech stocks: SanDisk fell 12.28%, Western Digital and Seagate Technology both dropped more than 6%, Micron fell 5.53%, SK Hynix fell 7.6%, Intel fell over 6%, and SpaceX fell 4.36%. On the news front, Trump said he would immediately reimpose a blockade on Iran and impose a 20% fee on cargo shipments. Later, Federal Reserve Governor Waller stated that if the core inflation data released this week remains high, the Federal Reserve will need to consider raising interest rates in the near term. Waller noted that the recent rise in core inflation is a cause for concern, with tariffs, rising energy prices, and demand for AI investment being the main factors driving up inflation.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Monday that the U.S. Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates in the near term if future data shows inflation remains well above the 2% target, describing current monetary policy as being at a crossroads. Waller noted that the path forward will be determined by new data such as the CPI report to be released Tuesday, adding that if data trends turn unfavorable, the Fed is currently in a phase where it should not slack off. Waller stated: "At the current policy level, inflation still has a chance to gradually fall back to the 2% target. But I am equally concerned about the opposite scenario: data in the coming weeks will show inflation remaining at high levels or even continuing to rise, which would require tighter monetary policy in the near term." He specifically noted that he is concerned recent inflation reports show price pressures appear to be broadening across the economy, beyond the impacts of last year’s import tariff hikes or recent energy cost increases, which may reflect broader systemic inflation and would require tighter monetary policy. Waller added: "If this week’s core inflation rate comes in hot again, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will have to consider tightening monetary policy in the near term. It will take months of sustained lower inflation data to confirm that inflation is moving in the right direction." (Jinshi)