UBS Global Wealth Management downgraded South Korea equities from Attractive to Neutral.

Federal Reserve Governor Williams said he remains optimistic inflationary pressures will ease but warned the Fed will not hesitate to raise rates if that does not occur. In a Reuters interview he said if energy prices and trade tariffs have peaked and the economy stays resilient, the main upward drivers of inflation from the past 18 months should wane and disinflationary forces should re-emerge. He is closely watching coming months' core inflation for consistency with a downward trend toward 2% and said the Fed aims to secure a stable 2% rate by 2028. Williams personally expects inflation to fall in H2 this year and to decline further next year, and he reiterated that the current policy stance is positioned to bring inflation back to target but that further tightening would be appropriate if the 2% path is not achieved.

CENC recorded a magnitude-4.8 earthquake at 22:31 on Aug. 2 (Beijing time) in Xinghai county, Hainan prefecture, Qinghai (35.34°N, 99.50°E); focal depth 10 km.