US MBA mortgage applications index fell to 247.2 for the week ended July 24 from 264 the prior week.

Fars News cited a military source saying the Strait of Hormuz remains fully closed and that no vessel has the right to transit the strategic waterway; any vessel attempting to transit, especially those ignoring warnings, will face a decisive and swift response.

Guan Tao, global chief economist at BOC Securities, wrote that Fed disagreement over US inflation and rate policy remains, roughly split into three camps: dovish (Williams), neutral (Waller) and hawkish. A hawkish Fed official who testified to the Senate Banking Committee on July 15 repeatedly voiced dissatisfaction with inflation, reiterated a zero-tolerance stance and said the Fed would continue to push inflation back to target. Guan says the official may be staking out a hawkish posture now to build credibility and anchor inflation expectations, but his push to revise the inflation framework and his long-run view that AI will exert disinflationary pressure suggest his deeper intent may still lean toward eventual rate cuts. The official even said he is more concerned with the digits to the left of the decimal point of inflation. Guan therefore sees the Fed likely to keep policy unchanged through the year; however, if US financial turmoil, recession or labour-market deterioration occur over the next two years, the Fed could restart cuts. Current market pricing for additional hikes may be excessive.