Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said repeated instances in which the Trump administration escalated threats but then held fire have led Iran to conclude it holds the upper hand in the confrontation. She identified a recurring pattern—military escalation, announced but unrealized diplomatic breakthroughs, then a return to threats—that reinforces Tehran’s perception. Yacoubian added the latest U.S. strike was likely delayed

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said he would not pre-judge what the Bank of Japan should do.

China Merchants Securities, citing Microsoft and SK Hynix results, concludes the AI sector still faces genuine supply constraints and shows no clear signs of broad overcapacity. Large tech firms are increasing AI infrastructure investment and customer follow-on orders are rising; earnings do not yet provide solid evidence of an AI compute glut. Microsoft compute utilization and SK Hynix order flows indicate the current imbalance is shortages of high-performance compute, advanced storage and data-center support capacity rather than widespread equipment idling. Near-term investment opportunities are likely to center on segments that alleviate AI compute bottlenecks.