Former Treasury Secretary Downplays Economic Recession Concerns, Calls Stock Market Pullback a Natural Phenomenon

Key pre-market news for US stocks is as follows: The US Treasury Department said it may use around $950 billion in general account funds to repurchase bonds. Boosted by the news, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note fell 4 basis points to 4.70%. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will announce details of sanctions on Iran at 2:00 AM Beijing time. Bessent stated that the US is entering a decisive phase, with a "D-Day" for Iran's economy approaching, marking the largest financial offensive ever launched against an adversarial power. Nvidia is reportedly in discussions to invest in AI startup Perplexity at a valuation exceeding $30 billion, and is also considering a technology licensing deal. Xpeng Robotics has completed over $900 million in financing, setting a new record for a single private placement in China's embodied intelligence sector. Investors include IDG Capital, Tencent, and Alibaba. Alibaba's management has made share purchases: Joseph Tsai and Yongming Wu each bought HK$80 million and HK$40 million worth of Alibaba stock respectively. The day before, the company announced a HK$80 billion new share placement. SK Hynix executives recently stated that the future AI industry must not only focus on HBM itself, but also on how packaging technology impacts HBM. The company is developing hybrid bonding packaging technology to achieve the goal of stacking 20 or more layers. A Micron researcher warned that the "memory wall" remains a challenge: AI accelerator computing performance triples every two years, while HBM development has grown by less than double over the same period, which could exacerbate memory shortages. Goldman Sachs sharply raised its forecasts for global semiconductor equipment spending in 2026, 2027, and 2028 to $150 billion, $218 billion, and $281 billion respectively, and maintained a bullish stance on the semiconductor equipment sector.

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated in a post that Ethereum (ETH) rallied 30% over the past week, marking its largest single-week gain since May 2025. Historical data shows that after ETH surged more than 30% in a single week in July 2021, it went on to rise 167%; following an identical weekly gain in May 2025, ETH subsequently climbed 170%. Tom Lee views ETH’s current trend as a historic bullish signal, with notable upside potential ahead. “We expect loose financial conditions to act as a tailwind for cryptocurrencies.”

Yilihua, founder of Liquid Capital, noted that as anticipated, the market has rebounded rapidly, with bears putting up minor resistance over the weekend. In a bull market, one should avoid shorting. We identify three core opportunities in this bull run: First, BTC and ETH will generate returns of over three times, with ETH’s rebound outperforming BTC’s. Second, on-chain finance remains a core demand driver, centered on stablecoins for global on-chain trading. Third, amid the AI boom, the convergence of AI and crypto will unlock massive opportunities—AI products will act as the source of demand and revenue, while crypto serves as a market incentive mechanism.

Xpeng Motors announced today that its robotics division has closed its first round of financing exceeding $900 million, with a post-money valuation of over $6.3 billion, setting a new record for a single private financing round in China’s embodied intelligence sector. The round was led by IDG Capital, with strategic investors Tencent and Alibaba participating, and Gaorong Capital—an early investor in Momenta and Zhiyuan Robotics—also joining. The funds will be allocated to robot hardware and software development, physical AI model training and optimization, high-quality data collection, construction of end-to-end mass production facilities, and global expansion. Xpeng targets monthly production of 1,000 units of its IRON humanoid robot by the end of this year, with initial deployments at its own retail stores and industrial parks, and commercial sales and delivery in China and overseas markets starting in 2027. CEO He Xiaopeng announced in June that he would personally head the robotics business, advancing humanoid robot development to the mass production stage. Multiple automakers are currently accelerating their push into the robotics sector, and Xpeng’s accumulated strengths in smart driving—including sensors, software, batteries, and supply chain management—are seen as core competitive edges. In April this year, Shanghai-based embodied intelligence startup TARS Robotics completed a $455 million+ Pre-A round, which was then hailed as the largest single private financing in China’s embodied intelligence space. Xpeng’s robotics division has now surpassed that record with its over $900 million round.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has firmly broken through the $79,000 level, with a 2.4% gain in the past 24 hours.

Fortune published an article titled "A New Crypto Giant Is Rising," praising Hyperliquid. At last week's SALT Conference, the premier crypto industry event held in Jackson Hole, Hyperliquid became the talk of the entire gathering. Since its launch in 2023, Hyperliquid has operated under an offshore model, but its team is accelerating efforts to establish a regulated business in the United States. Unlike most offshore firms that have stumbled in the U.S. market, Hyperliquid boasts multiple advantages: CEO Jeff Yan was born in the U.S., and it is reported that he has secured support for perpetual contracts from influential figures including former President Trump and the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The company's team also includes Schamis, who brings decades of credibility in traditional finance, and prominent crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky, who is dedicated to building a legal framework for DeFi in the U.S. Fortune assesses that Hyperliquid could suddenly emerge as a major competitive threat to crypto giants such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood, much like Binance burst onto the scene in 2017.