Spot gold opened about $10 lower, slipped below $4,120/oz and was down 0.29% on the day.

Ministry of Finance deputy director Ma Hongbing said cumulative growth in national general public budget revenue rose month-on-month, reflecting resilient economic activity; price increases, an active equity market and strong foreign trade materially supported revenue growth. 1H national general public budget expenditure totaled 14.33 tln yuan, up 1.5% YoY. Authorities said they maintained necessary fiscal spending to protect priority areas. Major items: social security and employment spending 2.636 tln yuan (+7.6% YoY); health spending 1.219 tln yuan (+10.8% YoY).

Wall Street Journal reports AMD (AMD.O) has signed a major chip and investment agreement with ANTHROPIC; AMD will invest $5 billion in ANTHROPIC as part of the chip deal.