🧬 Moderna Soars 100% on Melanoma Vaccine Trial Win
- Biotech surge: Moderna shares doubled after melanoma vaccine trial results signaled success.
- UK prices: UK inflation rose to 2.9% in July after a Middle East energy shock.
- Retail boost: Target profits doubled after a $1bn tariff refund under Washington’s programme.
- Chip controls: Chinese AI firms accessed Nvidia-equivalent computing remotely via Southeast Asia data centers.
Breaking News
Moderna share price doubles on melanoma vaccine trial success FT
Moderna’s shares doubled after results from a melanoma vaccine trial signaled success for its cancer-vaccine program. The melanoma vaccine is being developed in partnership with Merck. The update keeps attention on Moderna’s post-pandemic pipeline progress as it advances products beyond Covid-19 vaccines.
- Tariff refund boost: Target reported that profits doubled after a $1bn tariff refund, alongside higher sales, as net income was lifted by Washington’s tariff return programme. FT
- Cuts outlook: Lowe’s cut its full-year outlook after reporting results that missed Wall Street estimates, citing weaker demand tied to a soft housing market. Bloomberg
Economy & Geopolitics
UK inflation accelerates to 2.9% in July amid Middle East energy shock FT
UK inflation rose to 2.9% in July as higher energy costs linked to a Middle East shock pushed up prices. The move leaves inflation further above the Bank of England’s target. The Financial Times report points to rising energy costs as the key driver of the acceleration.
- Canada tariffs paused: The Trump administration delayed planned 50% tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian products for three days, saying a tentative agreement had been reached to resolve a wider trade dispute. Bloomberg
- UAE cuts ties: The United Arab Emirates said it would cut all economic ties with Iran after accusing Tehran of firing ballistic missiles at its territory. Bloomberg
Technical Analysis
Equity leadership split: The S&P 500 (SPY) held up better than both the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and the Russell 2000 (IWM), while sector breadth showed four advancers versus seven decliners, indicating that weakness was more common than strength even as the broad index outperformed the tech heavy proxy. Within sectors, Energy (XLE) led and Technology (XLK) lagged, matching the index level split between the broad market and the tech concentrated benchmark.
Aligned sector signs: Financials (XLF), Health Care (XLV), Consumer Staples (XLP), and Energy (XLE) share positive sign alignment across today, one week, and one month, while Communication Services (XLC) is the only sector with negative alignment across all three horizons, setting up a clear relative strength versus relative weakness pairing to track. The Treasury curve is upward sloping with the 10 year yield above the 2 year yield, but because that curve snapshot does not match the completed equity session date, the next observation to monitor is whether a same session curve reading coincides with continued leadership from the positively aligned sectors and continued lagging from the negatively aligned one.
Industry & Regulatory
The U.S. banned Nvidia's best chips from going to China. Now it's trying to close a crucial loophole CNBC
Despite U.S. export restrictions on Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips, several Chinese AI firms have reportedly accessed equivalent computing power remotely through data centers in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. Analysts cited in the report say current U.S. controls focus on physical chip shipments and generally do not cover remote cloud-based access when the Chinese customer does not own the hardware. U.S. lawmakers are discussing legislation such as the Remote Access Security Act to extend export controls to cloud access, though the article notes practical and procedural hurdles before any changes would take effect.
- Crypto registration exemptions: The SEC unveiled a proposal to exempt certain digital asset offerings from securities registration statements as it advances its crypto agenda after landmark legislation stalled in Congress. Bloomberg
- Tricolor fraud charges: The SEC charged former Tricolor Holdings executives Daniel Chu (CEO), Jerome Kollar (CFO), and Ameryn Seibold (Senior Director of Finance) with fraud in connection with the subprime auto lender’s $1.9 billion collapse, alleging a multi-year scheme. Sec
Other News
- Global bond slump: Long-term debt costs are soaring as the bond market slumps, prompting Bloomberg strategists and Empower’s chief investment strategist to assess what it signals for the Fed and how positioning is shifting, while China Beige Book’s COO previews next month’s Xi Jinping Trump meeting. Bloomberg
- Private credit strains: A Financial Times analysis reports that stress is spreading across private credit portfolios. FT
- Record bond sales: European bond issuance has surged back from the summer lull at the fastest pace on record, resuming the rapid borrowing seen globally this year. Bloomberg
- Buyer’s market: US home sales and residential construction are sliding as homebuyers disappear even as the market shifts toward buyers. Bloomberg