President Trump announced new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 60 nations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, citing forced labor, and threatened additional tariffs on the European Union. He also said he is considering what he described as a “massive attack” on Iran. Chip stocks sold off sharply, with SOXX down more than 4% and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.27% as Intel fell more than 7% despite a strong Q3 revenue outlook, while Arm, Marvell and Micron dropped more than 5%.

The U.S. Senate is advancing the Crypto Clarity Act, with 50 Republican senators confirming support and the measure now 3 votes short of the 60 required to pass. The bill aims to establish a unified regulatory framework for crypto assets. Trump has said he would sign the legislation “immediately.” If approved, the bill could reduce long-standing regulatory uncertainty for institutional investors and potentially open the door to trillions of dollars in institutional capital, with Bitcoin (BTC) widely viewed as a preferred allocation target.

Crypto hedge fund Strategy said it has disclosed a return threshold for its Bitcoin portfolio, below which it could be forced to initiate a restructuring process. The disclosure did not include specific figures, a time horizon, or the size of the assets involved, but it explicitly ties Bitcoin performance to the stability of the firm’s capital structure. As a digital-asset-focused institution, the prospect of a restructuring has raised concerns about how its holdings might be handled, though there is no public information indicating the threshold has been breached or that any default has occurred.

WestJet flight attendants, represented by CUPE Local 8125, have authorized strike action by a 99.4% vote, with job action set to begin as early as Aug. 2. The union says the central issue is ending what it describes as roughly 35 hours of unpaid required duties each month. A strike during the August long weekend travel period could trigger widespread flight cancellations. WestJet is allowing a one-time free change or cancellation for flights booked between July 30 and Aug. 4.

The U.S. imposed higher tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners as military tensions involving Iran escalated in the Middle East, driving investors toward safe-haven assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up while the Nasdaq Composite fell, and Europe’s STOXX 600 rebounded slightly. U.S. Treasury yields climbed to multidecade highs as markets priced in the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate hike.

Mali’s mines ministry plan shows the country’s industrial gold production is expected to remain below 60 tons a year from 2026 to 2029, peaking at 57 tons in 2028 versus a record 66.5 tons in 2023. Output has been pressured by the 2023 mining code and disputes with foreign miners including Barrick, contributing to a drop to 42.2 tons in 2025. Over the same period, industrial gold reserves are projected to fall from 906.8 tons in 2026 to 748.6 tons in 2029.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP) said on July 24, 2026 it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire edge AI chip company Hailo. The deal is expected to close toward the end of the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Hailo’s Hailo-8/10/15 AI accelerator and vision SoC lineup targets workloads ranging from low-power smart cameras to edge servers, with more than 100 customers and a developer community of over 10,000 users. Microchip said the acquisition is intended to strengthen its technology portfolio and commercialization capabilities in edge AI and intelligent vision.

A U.S. federal judge in Northern California has paused Paramount-Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, citing concerns it could violate antitrust law and lift film-distribution market concentration to 27%. The lawsuit is led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and joined by attorneys general from 11 other states. The deal has been pushed back to June next year from an original target of late September, and Paramount’s stock fell 3% on the day.