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July 3, 2025

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In Stocks

Asian markets open: Vietnam index at 3-year high on US deal; Sensex to open up

3 Mins Read

Asian stock markets presented a mixed picture at Thursday’s open, with Vietnamese equities surging to a more than three-year high as investors reacted to news of a new trade agreement with the United States, announced by President Donald Trump.

While this development fueled optimism in some corners, other regional markets, including Japan, edged lower, as investors continued to assess the broader global trade landscape and awaited a key US jobs report.

The standout performer in early Asian trading was Vietnam. The benchmark Vietnam Index rose 0.3% to its highest level since April 2022, according to data from LSEG.

This rally came after President Donald Trump, via his Truth Social platform, announced a new trade agreement with the Southeast Asian nation.

According to Trump, the US is imposing a 20% tariff on goods imported from Vietnam, while the latter will impose a “ZERO Tariff.” This announcement comes as the deadline for President Trump’s 90-day global tariff reprieve draws closer.

However, the Vietnamese currency, the dong, weakened to a record low of 26,195 per dollar following the news of the trade deal, as shown by LSEG data.

While Vietnam striking a trade deal with the US contributed to a rally in US equities, the optimism may not be universally shared across Asian markets and economies, according to some analysts.

Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho Securities’ head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan, suggested a more cautious interpretation, according to CNBC.

“For one, the deal with Vietnam is a stark reminder of the imbalance in leverage, to the disadvantage of Asian exporters,” he wrote in a Thursday note.

However, Varathan also added that the depreciation of the Vietnamese dong could potentially provide a buffer against the impact of the 20% US tariffs.

Elsewhere in Asia, market performance was varied. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.15%, and the broader Topix index lost 0.21%.

In contrast, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.77%, and the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.5%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also gained, adding 0.13%.

In Greater China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.64%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 managed to add 0.14%.

Indian markets poised for modest gains

Indian benchmark indices, the Sensex and Nifty, are likely to see a modest increase at the open on Thursday, influenced by the pockets of gains seen in other Asian markets following the US-Vietnam trade agreement.

This optimism is also supported by investors keeping a close watch on the progress of a potential trade agreement between the US and India.

Gift Nifty futures were trading at 25,584 points at 8:18 A.M. IST, suggesting a slight increase from the previous close of 25,574.50 and pointing to a potentially positive start for the domestic bourses.

US market backdrop: records set, jobs data awaited

US stock futures were little changed in early Asian hours as traders braced for the release of June’s major jobs report.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were fractionally higher, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose a slight 21 points, or less than 0.1%.

Overnight in the US, the three major averages had closed mixed, but with notable record-setting performances. The S&P 500 scored a fresh all-time intraday high and closed at another record.

The Nasdaq Composite also advanced 0.94% to post a record close of 20,393.13.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, slipped a marginal 10.52 points, or 0.02%, to end at 44,484.42.

The post Asian markets open: Vietnam index at 3-year high on US deal; Sensex to open up appeared first on Invezz

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In World news

Crypto Market Recap: Coinbase Acquires Liquifi, Tether to Have its Day in Court

6 Mins Read

Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Wednesday (July 2) as of 9:00 p.m. UTC.

Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.

Bitcoin and Ethereum price update

Bitcoin (BTC) is priced at US$109,452, up by four percent in the last 24 hours, and its highest valuation of the day. The day’s range for the cryptocurrency brought a low of US$107,542.

Bitcoin price performance, July 2, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

Bitcoin’s price gain was driven by a calming in Middle East tensions and growing optimism after the US Federal Reserve signaled a dovish tilt; both factors boosted investor risk appetite. Additionally, continued inflows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and favorable regulation expectations helped sustain upward momentum.

Ethereum (ETH) is priced at US$2,584.30, up by 7.5 percent over the past 24 hours and its highest valuation of the day. Its lowest valuation on Wednesday was US$2,446.41.

Altcoin price update

  • Solana (SOL) was priced at US$152.55, up by five percent over 24 hours. Its highest valuation as of Wednesday was US$153.39, and its lowest was US$148.29.
  • XRP was trading for US$2.18, up by 4.9 percent in 24 hours. The cryptocurrency’s lowest valuation was US$2.15 and its highest was US$2.27.
  • Sui (SUI) is trading at US$2.92, showing an increaseof 9.3 percent over the past 24 hours and its highest valuation on Wednesday. Its lowest valuation was US$2.76.
  • Cardano (ADA) is priced at US$0.5932, up by 10.6 percent in the last 24 hours, and its highest valuation of the day. Its lowest valuation as of Wednesday was US$0.5605.

Today’s crypto news to know

Judge permits billion-dollar lawsuit against Tether

A US bankruptcy judge is allowing a US$40 billion lawsuit against stablecoin issuer Tether to proceed, according to court documents filed in New York on Monday (June 30). The lawsuit was launched by crypto lender Celsius, which accused Tether of improperly liquidating nearly 40,000 Bitcoin from its platform in June 2022.

Tether attempted to dismiss claims, arguing that the liquidation was to cover Celsius’s US$812 million debt when Bitcoin prices plummeted. Tether also claimed that US courts lacked authority over Tether’s non-US operations, a claim the judge disagreed with, and maintains that Celsius had directed the liquidation.

Coinbase buys Liquifi in undisclosed deal

Coinbase has acquired Liquifi, a startup that builds token management platforms for crypto projects, continuing its busy M&A streak in 2025. Liquifi, backed in its 2022 seed round by Dragonfly and investors like Balaji Srinivasan, helps projects track token vesting, manage crypto cap tables, and handle tax requirements. Coinbase declined to disclose the purchase price, but said Liquifi will help streamline token launches and distribution. This puts Coinbase closer to an “end-to-end” model, similar to Binance’s launchpad, which supports crypto creation from early stages.

Liquifi has been locked in a legal fight with competitor Toku over alleged business document theft, claims which it denies, and Coinbase said it will stand by Liquifi’s defense.

The deal follows other Coinbase acquisitions this year, including Spindl, Iron Fish’s team and the company’s record-breaking US$2.9 billion Deribit buy.

SEC considers streamlining ETF listings

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly considering a change to its listing structure that would allow ETF issuers to submit a Form S-1, the initial listing registration filing, without having to first file a Form 19b-4.

This is according to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, who added that she was told issuers would only need to wait 75 days before listing their tokens if they met the criteria for a general listing standard, the details of which are still unknown but could involve criteria like market capitalization, liquidity and trading volume.

Tech billionaires launch crypto-focused bank Erebor

A group of prominent tech investors, including Anduril’s Palmer Luckey, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, are backing a new US-based crypto bank called Erebor, as per the Financial Times.

Erebor has applied for a national banking charter and plans to serve technology-driven sectors like artificial intelligence, defense and crypto, as well as individuals working in these fields.

The digital-only bank will be headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with an additional office in New York.

Erebor intends to hold stablecoins on its balance sheet, offering a stable value backed by reserves. The bank is led by Owen Rapaport and Jacob Hirshman, a former Circle adviser.

Erebor’s mission is to address the gap left by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which had been a critical channel for startups and venture investors until its 2023 failure.

AllUnity to launch Euro stablecoin

Germany’s financial watchdog, BaFin, has granted regulatory approval to Deutsche Bank and its asset management arm, DWS, for their joint venture, AllUnity. They will launch a euro stablecoin called EURAU, pegged 1:1 to the euro.

The approval allows AllUnity to launch its stablecoin in compliance with new MiCA regulations. The stablecoin aims to facilitate secure, transparent and compliant digital payments for institutions and businesses across Europe.

In other news out of Europe, the European Central Bank said it plans to test a new system using blockchain technology by late 2026 to settle payments in euros. This initiative, called Pontes, is part of a two-track approach that will connect modern blockchain platforms with the eurozone’s existing payment systems.

China considers stablecoins to reinforce cross-border payment strategy

Policy advisors in China are pressing Beijing to explore stablecoins for cross-border payments, even as the country’s broad crypto ban remains in place, Bloomberg reported.

People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Pan Gongsheng noted that stablecoins could make international finance more resilient to geopolitical disruptions, a view echoed by other senior officials.

Former PBOC governor Zhou Xiaochuan suggested dollar-linked stablecoins might even accelerate dollarization, while others see a case for yuan-backed coins to support China’s long-term currency goals.

The momentum comes after the US Senate passed a stablecoin bill in June, advancing President Donald Trump’s digital currency agenda. Stablecoin supply is projected to reach US$3.7 trillion by 2030, driven by cheaper, faster settlement options compared to traditional banking.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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In Business

As his feud with Trump reignites, Musk’s business with the government is back in the crosshairs

4 Mins Read

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump are fighting again. Now Musk’s business interests — and the billions in government contracts they enjoy — are once again in the crosshairs.

Investors were already punishing Tesla on Tuesday, sending shares in the electric carmaker more than 4% lower in afternoon trading. The stock has experienced a late-spring rally alongside the broader market but remains down some 20% so far this year. The shares have been pummeled by a global backlash to Musk’s alliance with Trump on the campaign trail and in the White House, where the multibillionaire led a sweeping program of government cuts

Musk acknowledged there had been “some blowback” to the actions taken by his Department of Government Efficiency project that may have affected Tesla sales. Yet investors remain largely bullish on the company and its efforts to pivot away from mass-market EVs and toward self-driving taxis and robotics, pushing its market valuation back toward $1 trillion.

Tesla remains Musk’s best-known business, but its fortunes are less directly tied to the government than SpaceX, his rocket-building company. SpaceX’s $350 billion valuation largely rests on the many government contracts that fuel it. SpaceX’s work for NASA has ramped up in recent years in support of the Artemis mission to return to the moon.

Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is currently the only active vessel capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX has also become essential to the Department of Defense’s missions taking satellites into orbit and today is responsible for the majority of such missions, according to Ars Technica.

SpaceX is privately held, meaning its shares don’t trade on the open market. It is thus difficult to get a real-time gauge on how worsening relations could affect the company’s fortunes. But the impact could be substantial. Since fiscal year 2000, total revenue for SpaceX and Tesla from federal unclassified contracts sits at $22.5 billion, according to Bloomberg Government data — with most of those going to the former. The Washington Post has put the figure for SpaceX alone at close to $38 billion, with $6.3 billion alone coming in 2024 — the highest annual total to date.

The dispute with Trump has also taken a chunk out of Musk’s personal net worth. After soaring to an all-time high of nearly half a trillion dollars after Trump’s election win, Musk’s publicly available wealth tally now sits at $400 billion, though that still makes him the world’s wealthiest individual by nearly $150 billion ahead of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, another Trump ally.

The Musk-Trump tiff first exploded into public view last month, shortly after Musk formally stepped down from his special government employee role and criticized the massive spending and tax cut bill that Republican senators passed Tuesday. Trump responded at the time by threatening to “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”

Musk, in turn, said he would begin “decommissioning” the Dragon, only to reverse course hours later after an X user advised him and Trump to “cool off and take a step back for a couple of days.”

Before their initial flare-up subsided, Musk announced he would be reining in his political spending weeks after a candidate he had backed lost a key Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Some analysts believe the current relapse in tensions between the two men will be short-lived given Musk’s reliance on the government, and vice-versa.

Still, Musk is now discussing launching his own political party to address the U.S.’s fiscal imbalances, which he believes Trump’s bill will exacerbate — a contention supported by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. While the South Africa-born executive is ineligible to run for office, any candidate he backed for national office would likely face immediate conflict-of-interest questions.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

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In Politics

Trump turns to Supreme Court in fight to oust Biden-era consumer safety officials

3 Mins Read

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking to overturn lower court rulings that blocked the administration from firing three Biden-appointed regulators.

The emergency appeal asks the High Court to allow the Trump administration to fire three members of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a five-member independent regulatory board that sets standards and oversees safety for thousands of consumer products. The appeal comes after the Supreme Court, in May, granted a separate emergency appeal request from the Trump administration pertaining to the firing of two Biden-appointed agency officials from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).  

‘It’s outrageous that we must once again seek Supreme Court intervention because rogue leftist judges in lower courts continue to defy the high court’s clear rulings,’ said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields. 

‘The Supreme Court decisively upheld the president’s constitutional authority to fire and remove executive officers exercising his power, yet this ongoing assault by activist judges undermines that victory,’ he continued. ‘President Trump remains committed to fulfilling the American people’s mandate by effectively leading the executive branch, despite these relentless obstructions.’

Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. were appointed to serve seven-year terms on the independent government agency by former President Joe Biden. Their positions have historically been protected from retribution, as they can only be terminated for neglect or malfeasance.

After Trump attempted to fire the three Democratic regulators, they sued, arguing the president sought to remove them without due cause. Eventually, a federal judge in Maryland agreed with them, and this week an appeals court upheld that ruling. 

However, according to the emergency appeal from the Trump administration, submitted to the High Court on Wednesday morning, the three regulators in question have shown ‘hostility to the President’s agenda’ and taken actions that have ‘thrown the agency into chaos.’

The emergency appeal to the Supreme Court added that ‘none of this should be possible’ after the High Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s decision to fire two executive branch labor relations officials.

‘None of this should be possible after Wilcox, which squarely controls this case. Like the NLRB and MSPB in Wilcox, the CPSC exercises ‘considerable executive power,’ 145 S. Ct. at 1415—for instance, by issuing rules, adjudicating administrative proceedings, issuing subpoenas, bringing enforcement suits seeking civil penalties, and (with the concurrence of the Attorney General) even prosecuting criminal cases,’ Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.

The request, according to Politico, will go to Chief Justice John Roberts, who is in charge of emergency appeals stemming from the appeals court that upheld the previous Maryland court ruling blocking the Trump administration’s firings.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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