Be in the know. 18 key reads for Thursday…

  1. Trump Announces Preliminary Trade Pact With Vietnam (nytimes)
  2. Nike, Lululemon, and More Retail Stocks Rise on Vietnam Trade Deal (barrons)
  3. U.S. lifts chip software curbs on China in sign of trade truce (cnbc)
  4. Hong Kong’s IPO market is on fire — here’s what’s fueling the surge (cnbc)
  5. China Erodes US AI Supremacy As Chatbot Race Defines Path To 2030 Dominance (zerohedge)
  6. Alibaba Seeks $1.5 Billion From Bonds Exchangeable to Ali Health (bloomberg)
  7. Alibaba leads US$14 million funding round in Chinese corporate AI agent start-up (scmp)
  8. China’s tech giants lobby for offshore yuan stablecoin, sources say (reuters)
  9. Stock Pickers Shine, Sniffing Out Value During Market Tumult (bloomberg)
  10. Russell Rips: Shorts Torched as Laggard Goes Leader (zerohedge)
  11. Seeing better value in small cap and non-U.S. equities in 2nd half of the year, says Joe Amato (youtube)
  12. Garuda Says It’s in Talks to Buy as Many as 75 Boeing Aircraft (bloomberg)
  13. Cruises Profit as Cost-Conscious Travelers Set Sail This Summer (bloomberg)
  14. Goldman Sees Trouble Brewing Across Mid-Atlantic Grid Ahead Of Next Heat Dome (zerohedge)
  15. Google, Microsoft electricity demand jumps over 25% for second year in a row (streetinsider)
  16. As the Fourth of July approaches, here are 4 reasons why ‘American exceptionalism’ isn’t going away (marketwatch)
  17. Why stablecoins are shifting from crypto fringe to corporate strategy (ft)
  18. Hiring Defied Expectations in June, With 147,000 New Jobs (wsj)