Chip design startup Velaura AI closes $110 million Series A funding round, led by Seligman Ventures.

Billionaire investor and Omega Advisors CEO Leon Cooperman warned this week that the U.S. economy could enter a recession within the next year, dragging down the stock market. He noted the current market resembles the collapse of the "Nifty Fifty" in the 1970s and expressed concern over cooling optimism around AI. In an interview with CNBC, Cooperman said, "I think we will have a recession sometime next year, which could cause the market to fall." He also pointed out that the market’s profit growth expectations for the S&P 500 are off the mark (FactSet data shows this quarter’s year-over-year increase is projected to exceed 50%). Currently, he is clearly deviating from Wall Street’s mainstream bullish views—particularly avoiding tech stocks—and holds a negative outlook on the overall market. He reminded investors not to underestimate the risk of a rebound in inflation. Brent crude remains at a high level (around $90 per barrel, more than 20% higher than pre-Iran-conflict levels), while July retail sales fell 0.6% month-over-month, far below the expected 0.1% growth. Higher inflation could hit stock valuations, mirroring the sharp decline in growth stocks after 1970s oil price surges. "The most dangerous phrase in investing is: ‘This time is different,’" Cooperman said. The current market is almost universally bullish, and once a negative catalyst emerges, investors could sell off quickly. Meanwhile, bond market volatility is adding pressure: the yield on the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond hit 5.33% on Tuesday, the highest since June 2007, breaking through a three-year trading range. Analysts warn that if yields rise rapidly toward 6%, the stock market could face further valuation pressure. Historically, after a similar trend in 1999, the S&P 500 subsequently entered a correction amid the dot-com bubble burst.

Blockchain security firm PeckShield has disclosed that two wallet addresses—0xfdea...447a7BF and 0x4388...C919dd7—each minted roughly 463 million MemeCore (M) tokens, totaling approximately 1 billion tokens. The tokens were subsequently transferred and merged into the address 0x69cB...F6FF4681, which currently holds the assets valued at around $1 million.

According to Reuters, sources said that Samsung has raised its chip manufacturing prices by 15% due to surging demand.

According to data from Binance's market page, the US stock SNDK (SanDisk) perpetual contract has recorded a trading volume of approximately $6.37 billion, surpassing the $5.96 billion volume of Bitcoin's USDT perpetual contract, ranking among the highest-volume contract products on the Binance platform. Notably, TradFi (Traditional Finance) assets are becoming a key part of Binance's high-volume contracts. Data shows that 10 of the top 15 contracts by trading volume on Binance are TradFi-related assets. The trading activity of the single US stock SNDK contract has outpaced Bitcoin, a core crypto market asset, reflecting that traditional stock assets are rapidly entering crypto-native trading scenarios, enabling global users to trade US stocks and other global core assets with lower barriers.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Iran's Fars News Agency cited sources as saying on the 19th that Iran has not held any direct talks with the U.S. after the U.S. violated the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding. A source close to the negotiation team told Fars that Iran's talks with the U.S. have been suspended following the U.S.'s violation of the memorandum. Separately, Iran's talks with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz are unrelated to the U.S. Meanwhile, in a CNN report on the 18th, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered his negotiation team to cease contact with Iran. The report cited U.S. officials as saying that Trump is dissatisfied with Iran's unwillingness to meet his demands, and hopes to resume contacts after Iranian leaders demonstrate renewed willingness to strike the deal he is seeking.

According to a Bloomberg report, Chinese storage chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. (YMTC) has completed its listing guidance, bringing it closer to a debut on the A-share market. Data from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) website shows YMTC has finished pre-listing guidance and is deemed to meet the requirements of a listed company in terms of corporate governance structure, financial foundation, and internal control system. Market participants believe YMTC is expected to follow the capital market path of its competitor ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), raising funds via IPO to expand production capacity and support China’s semiconductor industry self-reliance. Previously, CXMT completed the second-largest IPO in mainland China, raising around 66.6 billion yuan; its share price surged after listing, briefly making it one of China’s most valuable listed companies. Both YMTC and CXMT are key players in China’s semiconductor independent supply chain. Driven by AI demand, global storage chip supply tightness has drawn capital market attention to the two firms, with related chip industry chain stocks rising sharply recently. According to reports, YMTC’s NAND flash shipments in the second quarter of this year surpassed Japan’s Kioxia for the first time, becoming the world’s third-largest NAND flash supplier and further narrowing the market gap with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. However, news of YMTC’s IPO push has also sparked market liquidity concerns. Some investors argue that the listing of a large tech firm may siphon market funds, putting short-term pressure on tech stocks. On Wednesday, the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR 50 Index fell 6.9%, marking its largest single-day drop in nearly a month.