South Korea's KOSPI plunged about 4% intraday, slipping below 5,800 to 5,781.28 points; SK Hynix fell nearly 8% and Samsung Electronics dropped more than 3%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down about 1% intraday.

Market takeaway: Fed Governor Waller is widely expected to maintain the terse, June-style communication approach and provide little new forward guidance, keeping headline market signals limited. FHN: Tone likely as hawkish as June but with equal or less tradable information. Wells Fargo: Biggest change would be in communication and forward-guidance flexibility; investors should expect more policy flexibility. BNP Paribas: Likely a short opening, concise answers and very limited forward guidance; remarks should align with congressional testimony. TD Securities: Unlikely to offer forward guidance; will reaffirm price-stability commitment, note recent disinflation while stressing inflation remains elevated. Saxo Bank: Watch for a possible announcement to stop publishing the dot plot or summary forecasts from September. JP Morgan: Low expectations for new information given Waller’s recent brief, broad communications; unlikely to give explicit forward guidance. Societe Generale: Will reiterate commitment to disinflation to 2% while acknowledging inflation may be stickier than expected; welcomes June inflation prints but will stress need to confirm the downward trend. Goldman: Unlikely to map a clear future policy path; may outline timelines for work by five Fed working groups. WSJ reporter Nick: If the Fed hikes, market reaction will hinge on whether Waller frames it as a one-off response or the start of a sustained tightening cycle.

China Life Pension said on July 28 at its Beijing 1H operating meeting that assets under management stood at 2.6 tln yuan at end-1H, with both total scale and net additions at record highs. First-pillar basic pensions totaled over 88 bln yuan; second-pillar annuities reached 2.4 tln yuan; third-pillar commercial pension assets exceeded 90 bln yuan.