To The Moon

Wall Street extended its record rally, buoyed by strong employment data, while Asian markets were mixed amid rising trade tensions.

🇺🇸 S&P 500: +0.85% 📈

🇺🇸 NASDAQ: +1.03% 📈

🇪🇺 STOXX 600: +0.47% 📈

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225: +0.06% 📈

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: -0.47% 📉

🇨🇳 CSI 300: +0.63% 📈

🇸🇬 Straits Times Index: +0.22% 📈

US markets hit new highs, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gaining 0.9% and 1.0% respectively, led by tech giants such as Nvidia $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$   and Amazon $Amazon.com(AMZN)$  . Strong job data boosted investor confidence, even as expectations for a July rate cut weakened.

The US added 147,000 nonfarm jobs in June, surpassing the forecast of 111,000 and exceeding the revised 144,000 in May. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.1% from 4.2%, indicating a resilient labor market.

US services activity rebounded in June, with the ISM Services PMI rising to 50.8, in line with expectations and up from May's 49.9. However, due to policy and tariff uncertainties, businesses remain cautious in hiring, with the employment sub-index contracting for the third time this year.

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.5%, while the CSI 300 rose 0.6%. A new trade deal between the US and Vietnam raised concerns that China's exports might be rerouted via offshore factories, intensifying US-China trade tensions.

China's services sector expanded at its slowest pace in nine months, with the Caixin Services PMI dropping to 50.6 in June, below the expected 51 and May's 51.1, as weak domestic demand, falling export orders, and economic headwinds persisted.

💡 Things to Know Today 💡

1. President Trump's tax cut bill narrowly passed the House with a 218-214 vote, completing the legislative process. The bill supports his domestic priorities, including increased defense and immigration spending, but is expected to leave millions without health coverage.

Big Beautiful Bill

2. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the bill contradicts its fiscal recommendations and urged Washington to start cutting deficits to stabilize debt levels. It plans to assess the bill's impact before updating global growth forecasts in July.

3. The US has lifted restrictions on chip design software and ethane exports to China, allowing Synopsys $Synopsys(SNPS)$  , Cadence, and Siemens to resume services for Chinese clients. Trade tensions have slightly eased following a new bilateral framework agreement.

Chip design

4. OpenAI will lease 4.5GW of data center power from Oracle as part of its“Stargate Project”to meet the growing energy demands of advanced AI infrastructure. The initiative is a collaboration between Oracle $Oracle(ORCL)$  , SoftBank, and OpenAI, with the first major site under construction in Abilene, Texas.

OpenAI

5. JD.com $JD-SW(09618)$  and Ant Group are seeking approval to launch an offshore RMB stablecoin in Hong Kong, aiming to boost global use of the yuan and counter the US dollar's dominance in crypto assets. Beijing has signaled a more relaxed regulatory stance.

✅ Key Point:

Strong jobs data has significantly reduced the likelihood of a July rate cut. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the probability of a 25bps cut in September has dropped to 68%, down from 74% a week ago.

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