Top U.S. Stories

  • President Trump announced a “next phase” Gaza agreement under which Hamas would gradually disarm in exchange for Israeli troop withdrawal, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US-led Board of Peace. A verification committee would monitor the process and weapons would be held under a new Palestinian administration (NPR). Why it matters: Hamas says it agreed to the deal, while Israel had not commented, leaving substantial uncertainty over implementation (AP).
  • Tensions in the Middle East continued after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan, which US forces intercepted, followed by US-Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militias in Iraq. Why it matters: the tit-for-tat exchanges keep a risk premium in oil prices and add uncertainty to any near-term de-escalation (Al Jazeera).
  • Wall Street extended its rally on strong Big Tech earnings: following Microsoft’s cloud-growth beat, Amazon’s results also topped estimates on July 30, and the Dow closed out July with its fourth straight winning month. Why it matters: the earnings strength is offsetting lingering worries about AI overinvestment and rising bond yields, at least for now (CNBC).
  • The Bank of Japan held its policy rate at 1.0% on July 31, but Governor Kazuo Ueda said the pace of rate hikes “could accelerate” given upside risks to inflation (Nikkei).
  • The death toll from the July 28 magnitude-7.1 earthquake in Kumamoto, Japan, rose to 36, including two still under investigation; more than 9,500 people remain in evacuation shelters (Yahoo News Japan / Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun).
  • Wildfires continued to burn across France, Spain and Greece amid a prolonged European heatwave; three firefighters died in Greece and a blaze in Spain’s Castellón region forced more than 10,000 evacuations. The EU is coordinating aircraft and personnel across 37 countries (Euronews).

Markets

Asian and US equities rallied on July 31 as AI-related earnings from Microsoft and Amazon eased overinvestment worries. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 2,494 points (+4.03%) to close at 64,362, with chip-related names like Kioxia hitting daily limit-up on the back of an 8% jump in the US SOX semiconductor index (Kabutan). The Dow rose 276.97 points (+0.53%) to 52,485.03, the S&P 500 added about 0.70% to 7,489.72, and the Nasdaq Composite gained roughly 1.00% to 25,373.85. WTI crude rose $1.08 (+1.3%) to $84.67 a barrel after reports of an Iranian attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The dollar stood at ¥160.24 per the Frankfurter reference rate (as of July 31), though the yen swung between roughly ¥157 and ¥163 during the week amid BOJ policy news and intervention speculation.

Stocks in Focus

  • Kioxia — hit the daily limit-up as Japanese chip stocks tracked a sharp overnight rally in US semiconductor names.
  • Amazon — shares jumped after quarterly results beat expectations, helping lift the broader market on July 30.
  • Microsoft — its cloud-growth beat earlier in the week continued to anchor the AI-stock rebound into month-end.

Compass Insight

Today’s throughline is stocks climbing a wall of geopolitical worry. Gaza and Iran headlines carry real uncertainty, yet markets responded to concrete earnings beats from Microsoft and Amazon, sending Japan’s Nikkei up more than 4% and US indexes to fresh highs. The BOJ’s rate hold doesn’t mean hikes are over — Governor Ueda’s comments point the other way. For household finances, a strong AI-stock rally is a tailwind for retirement and investment accounts tied to global equities, but the same names are volatile by nature. A choppy yen and firmer oil keep imported-inflation risk alive for energy and grocery bills. Short term, watch whether the Gaza framework moves into actual implementation and whether Iran-linked strikes escalate further, both of which would move oil and risk assets. Medium term, the BOJ’s hiking pace, the US-Japan rate differential, and whether AI-linked earnings keep beating expectations will likely stay the dominant themes for markets.

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Auto-generated and AI-written. Not investment advice.