U.S. Treasury Yield Rebounds Within a Day; Walmart Shares Fall 9%, Nvidia Denies China AI Chip Rumor

This means most of the temporary decline from the buyback was given back within a single day.

This suggests the Treasury's market intervention had limited effect as structural headwinds compounded while U.S. national debt approaches $40 trillion.

He stressed that the current buyback size of $4 billion could be increased further, signaling willingness to intervene in the market.

He noted that underlying inflation exceeds the Fed's 2% target, arguing that raising rates early and gradually, as now, would ease the burden on the economy far more than a sharp shock later if prices surge.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly assessed the current rise in rates as a global structural phenomenon and drew a line, saying it is not a direct signal for the Fed to change policy right away.

She judged that current monetary policy is well positioned to stabilize prices, so there is little need to move preemptively now, while leaving open the possibility of using tightening tools if inflation spreads.

Walmart reported that its second-quarter U.S. same-store sales growth was 2.6%, the lowest in six years. This suggests shopping cart spending is declining amid high prices.

Walmart shares plunged more than 9% on these signs of weakening consumer sentiment, though its e-commerce and advertising segments performed relatively well.

This is analyzed as an attempt to exploit the AI chip supply shortage in China.

However, the plan is uncertain and could change depending on approval from Chinese authorities and policy variables between the two countries.

This reflects expectations for shareholder returns after the 40 trillion won share buyback and cancellation, as other investment firms such as Nomura and Barclays also recommend buying the stock as undervalued.

Micron shares rose nearly 4% on the news.

The investment will focus on next-generation memory, AI computing, and semiconductor packaging technologies, aiming to strengthen Micron's technological competitiveness.

Nvidia showed strength intraday after a report emerged that it would ship AI inference chips for Chinese customers by year-end and had already secured orders.

However, Nvidia immediately denied the report as untrue, and its shares gave up their gains to close slightly lower.

Replacing external chips it had used, it plans to adopt a dedicated ASIC chip to improve driving performance and cut costs.

However, Alphabet shares fell more than 1% on concerns about the burden of AI investment.

Walmart reported second-quarter revenue of $187.94 billion, an excellent result that beat market expectations.

However, it said it would use roughly $2.9 billion in tariff refunds to lower prices, raising concerns about heavier profitability pressure, and its shares ultimately plunged 9%.

The data center will be linked to a robot manufacturing plant and serve as a hub for physical AI, the group's next growth engine.

Hyundai Motor Group plans to expand the data center's scale in stages and induce co-investment from related companies to build an AI industry ecosystem in the Saemangeum region.

Its second-quarter revenue of $164.2 billion and operating profit of $62.2 billion were both record highs.

Behind these results was the expansion of data centers to about 30% of new orders. Sanil Electric is diversifying its business portfolio from power-focused operations into data center power infrastructure.

Through this partnership, Hanwha Asset Management plans to pursue digital asset ETFs and tokenization of real-world assets.

The partnership is also linked to Hanwha Investment & Securities' token securities platform business, raising expectations for synergies among affiliates.