Texas just opened a stock exchange

Good morning Ya'll !

We hope y'all had a great weekend - Texas certainly did.

• The first major stock trading exchange in decades Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE), nicknamed “Y'all Street.”

It's backed by big names like BlackRock (BLK -0.73%), Goldman Sachs (GS -0.63%), and Citadel Securities.

Total value of the TXSE: $275M.

Total value of the NYSE: $44T.

STOCKS

• S&P: 7,489 (+0.70%)
• DOW: 52,485 (+0.53%)
• NASDAQ: 25,373 (+1.00%)

*Numbers as of market close on July 31st

Shorting SpaceX

Traders are betting HARD against SpaceX (SPCX -3.41%) ahead of a big share unlock.

What does that mean? Up to 911.5 million shares become free to sell just after its first earnings.

• SpaceX went public around 2 months ago.

34% of all of its shares have now been bought to sell short, believing the stock will fall more.

AI On The Road

GM (GM +0.52%) is putting its own AI assistant into cars this year.

GM plans to bring it to millions of vehicles.

Reminder: GM made more money than Wall Street expected last quarter - its 16th consecutive earnings beat.

• The auto giant recently added Google's (GOOG +6.88%) Gemini AI to some of its newer models, but this new move could go beyond that.

GLOBAL SCOOP

• STOXX 600 (E.U.): -0.12%
• CSI 300 (CHN): +0.85%
• FTSE 100 (U.K.): -0.27%

*Numbers as of 5:00 PM ET on July 31st

Washington X Tokyo

The U.S. and Japan are teaming up to prop up the yen for the first time since 2011.

• The yen is the major currency of Japan.

Why? The value of the yen is at a near 40 year low.

So the U.S. and Japan are spending billions buying it, hoping to increase its value and demand for it.

Behind The Curve

BYD, the world's LARGEST EV company based in China, reported a bigger than expected sales jump last month.

• July deliveries came in at about 420,000.

The catch? Weak China demand is slowing it down, and its Hungary plant is now delayed to late 2026.

BYDs aren't technically banned in the U.S., but regulations and high tariffs make them nearly impossible to import.

ECONOMY

• US10YEAR: 4.71% (-0.02%)
• GOLD: $4,120 (+0.34%)
• BRENT CRUDE: $84.26 (-4.17%)

*Numbers as of 4:00 PM ET on July 31st

Economy's Fine?

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the economy is stronger than the latest GDP report makes it look, with inflation cooling.

• The last report showed GDP grew at a 1.5% annualized rate in Q2 - lower than the quarter before.
• WHY THE DROP? He believes China's moves with rare earths and AI are mostly to blame.

Gas Pain Continues

Oil is getting cheaper, but gas is barely moving.

And Exxon (XOM -0.97%) and Chevron (CVX +2.35%) warn high prices will stick around…

• Exxon saw its profits double recently and Chevron's quadrupled last quarter.

The reason? 5 million barrels of daily refining capacity is offline due to the Russia-Ukraine and U.S.-Iran wars.

Portable Homes For AI

AI construction crews need fast housing, and Factory built homes could be the answer.

One company, Cavco (CVCO -2.73%), has seen its orders boom as a result - it designs factory-made housing.

However, its shares fell 5% at one point Friday after it missed earnings last quarter.

• Data centers need big crews at first, but only a few workers stick around once they're built.

CRYPTO

• BTC: $63,291 (+0.84%)
• ETH: $1,875 (+1.73%)
• XRP: $1.08 (+2.14%)

*Numbers as of 4:00 PM ET on August 2nd

Dubai Crypto Money

An unlicensed crypto exchange in Dubai became a money pipeline for gambling networks linked to Iran.

How much virtual dough? Sources say it moved at least $4B.

Iran has been relying on crypto to pay the bills for months, as countries have stopped the flow of money in and out due to the war.

Tethered To Gold

Tether is stacking gold bars even though the price of gold has fallen from its recent highs.

• The stablecoin giant bought 14 TONS this spring, bringing its hoard to 146 tons.