SemiAnalysis: Latest U.S. economic data is rife with noise, while AI infrastructure development remains in full swing.

Citi raised Amazon (AMZN.O)’s price target from $325 to $350.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, U.S. stocks saw simultaneous strength in the semiconductor, storage, and optical communication sectors during pre-market trading on Friday. Semiconductor stocks rose broadly: Lam Research (LRCX) gained 3.81%, Intel (INTC) climbed 5.67%, Applied Materials (AMAT) advanced 3.83%, and Arm (ARM) jumped 5.99%. The storage sector led gains, with SK Hynix (SKHY) up 6.45%, Micron Technology (MU) rising 3.35%, Western Digital (WDC) increasing 4.48%, SanDisk (SNDK) advancing 4.41%, and Seagate Technology (STX) gaining 2.91%. Optical communication-related stocks also trended higher: Astera Labs (ALAB) rose 8.78%, Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) climbed 6.6%, Coherent (COHR) advanced 5.94%, Credo (CRDO) jumped 6.28%, and Lumentum (LITE) gained 4.47%.

After a prolonged slump throughout July, South Korea’s KOSPI index surged more than 17% intraday on the 31st, notching its largest single-day gain in history. While some optimistic investors view this rally as a "signal flare" for a market trend reversal, market experts argue that the fragile structure of South Korea’s stock market—vulnerable to foreign capital flows and prone to extreme volatility—has been reaffirmed, and this rebound may ultimately be nothing more than a "dead cat bounce." Data shows foreign investors net-purchased 1.6 trillion won worth of South Korean stocks just over two minutes after the market opened; by the close, their total daily net purchases hit 7.18 trillion won, a new all-time high. Meanwhile, South Korean individual investors net-sold 8.2 trillion won, also setting a record for the largest single-day net sell-off. Analyst Lee Chae-won stated: "It is currently difficult to determine whether this rebound is a temporary technical rebound or the start of an upward trend." "Ultimately, the key lies in the semiconductor cycle. As the market questions the sustainability of high operating margins, investors should focus on whether semiconductor supply bottlenecks will persist beyond 2028 when making decisions over the next six months." An asset management industry source noted: "Retail investors trapped at current high levels are likely to sell to lock in profits when the index approaches its previous highs of around 8,000 to 9,000 points, which could cap the upward momentum."

According to South Korean media reports, on the first day that South Korea’s financial regulators imposed restrictions on individual stock leveraged ETFs, the trading volume of related products plunged to a quarter of the prior day’s level. Data from South Korea’s exchange KRX shows that on the first day of the new rules, the combined turnover of 16 individual stock leveraged and inverse ETFs reached 3.3071 trillion won, a sharp 75.3% drop from the previous day’s 12.4485 trillion won. Compared with the average daily turnover of 12.27 trillion won in July, the regulators’ strict control measures have clearly had an immediate effect in curbing capital flows. Excluding inverse products, the turnover of 14 major individual stock leveraged ETFs also fell by 64.4%, from 6.9354 trillion won the day before to 2.4686 trillion won.

According to a report by The Daily Telegraph, the United States and Israel are discussing a possible land blockade on Iran. Trump and Netanyahu are exploring multiple options to intensify economic pressure on Iran, and this plan is one of them.

According to Hyperinsight’s monitoring, the "Big Three" storage tokens have rebounded in sync with US stock indices today, but funding rates for SKHX, SNDK, MU, S&P 500, and XYZ100 have all turned negative. Converted based on current hourly rates, the 8-hour funding rates for SKHX, SNDK, and MU stand at -0.2544%, -0.0242%, and -0.0032% respectively; for S&P 500 and XYZ100, they are -0.0139% and -0.0075% respectively. In terms of position structure, the total nominal open interest (OI) of the Big Three storage tokens fell from $1.022 billion to $853 million, a decrease of roughly $170 million, or 16.6%. SKHX alone shrank by 29.5%; by contract count, SKHX, SNDK, and MU’s open interest dropped by 39.3%, 5.3%, and 4.2% respectively. In contrast, the total nominal positions of S&P 500 and XYZ100 rose from $752 million to $781 million, up 3.9%; their contract counts increased by approximately 1.0% and 6.6% respectively. With indices rising, positions expanding, and funding rates turning negative, new short positioning has become more pronounced. SKHX continues deleveraging: 43 multi-million-dollar long positions on SKHX cut their holdings by around $175 million, with 34 addresses liquidating their entire positions; net long reduction stood at roughly $117 million. Across the five assets, multi-million-dollar addresses recorded a net long reduction of approximately $161 million and a net short reduction of $271 million over the past 24 hours.