US stock futures tumbled and oil prices surged as weekend developments in Iran, including restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, rekindled market uncertainty and anxiety.

• Top Wall Street analysts recommend three stocks for long-term investment due to their strong potential.
• Alibaba's significant AI investments are impressing analysts and boosting optimism.
• Tesla and Boeing headline a major week of corporate earnings reports.
• HSBC identifies its top stock picks ahead of the current earnings season.
• Bank of America advises buying five specific stocks before their upcoming earnings releases.
• Geopolitical tensions escalate as Iran restricts Strait of Hormuz access, causing oil prices to surge and stock futures to decline amid renewed market anxiety.
• Oil prices jump sharply following U.S. seizure of an Iranian ship and disruptions in Hormuz talks, with big oil firms investing billions in alternative drilling amid turmoil.
• Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings announces his departure, unsettling investors.
• Earnings momentum builds for stocks reporting next week, including TSLA, IBM, T, INTC, GE, BA, UNH, NOW, PM, and CMCSA.
• Eli Lilly advances toward a $2 billion-plus acquisition of Kelonia Therapeutics to bolster its cancer treatment pipeline.

Hang Seng Index rises 216 points midday, led by Tencent with hot AI stocks driving gains.

• Humanoid robots achieve historic breakthrough as Honor's "Lightning" from QiTian team wins Beijing half-marathon in 50:26, shattering human world record of 57:20, with event scale exploding 5x to 300+ units and 40% autonomous navigation.
• Commercial REITs pilot accelerates in China, with exchanges accepting projects exceeding last year's total issuance, projecting 1T RMB new listings to unlock assets and boost capital markets.
• SK Hynix begins mass production of 192GB SOCAMM2 memory for Nvidia's Vera Rubin AI platform, amid Asia-Pacific stocks rising and Taiwan index hitting new highs with SK Hynix up 4%.
• CATL's A-share market cap surpasses 2 trillion RMB, ranking third in China behind only top banks, highlighting ascent of high-end manufacturing like batteries and storage.
• Oriental Securities plans to acquire 100% of Shanghai Securities via shares and cash, potentially pushing combined assets over 6T RMB and entering industry top 10 amid broker consolidations.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng surges 216 points midday led by Tencent, with AI stocks booming; Goldman forecasts 60B USD IPO fundraising this year.
• China's second batch of "Two Heavy" projects allocates 2168B RMB in special bonds for 336 initiatives in AI, infrastructure, agriculture, and education, totaling 6065B RMB YTD.
• Public funds issue nearly 3200B RMB in new products YTD, led by top firms showing stark Matthew effect, while actively engaging in corporate governance like voting on dividends.
• HKEX tightens listing rules to prevent "auditor shopping," requiring shareholder approval for auditor changes; separately, MTR's Kam Sheung Road Station Phase 2 draws 7+ bids from giants like CK and Henderson.
• AI-driven sectors heat up: Alibaba launches 30-language FunASR1.5 and HappyHorse testing; BOC Int'l raises Bilibili target to 244 HKD for AI focus; fiber/PCB demand surges with 81% YTD gains.

Tokyo Stock Exchange surges over 500 yen at one point, driven by buying on expectations of progress in US-Iran talks.

• Tokyo Stock Exchange jumps over 500 yen amid buying spurred by hopes for US-Iran negotiation advances.
• Japanese yen strengthens to early 159 yen in Tokyo and late 158 in NY as Middle East worries ease after Iran's Strait of Hormuz opening announcement.
• US NY stocks rally sharply, gaining 868 dollars overall and over 800 at peaks, fueled by Iran's Hormuz reopening during ceasefire.
• G20 urges quick resolution to Middle East crisis while expressing alarm at China's excess production, but skips joint statement.
• Shiga Bank partners with Ikeda泉州 HD to boost Kinki region's competitiveness through shared branches and customers.
• Financial Services Agency to raise compulsory auto insurance by about 6% for first time in 13 years due to higher labor and medical expenses.
• Tokyo 23 wards new condo prices average 1.3784 billion yen in FY2025, exacerbated by Middle East-driven construction cost hikes.
• Nissan advances EV power trading via "EV power plants" with bidirectional chargers starting FY2028, plus AI driving in Elgrand by FY2027 as new revenue.
• Kansai region's expo-driven boom fades into high bankruptcies amid China slowdowns, Middle East tensions, and weak inbound tourism.
• Yokohama Port achieves 3 million TEU containers for third year running, leveraging its rare 18m water depth capability.

The $290-292 million KelpDAO exploit, blamed on North Korea's Lazarus Group via LayerZero and Kelp's setup, triggered a $13 billion DeFi wipeout, exposed structural risks, caused Aave's $6 billion deposit drop, and led to community claims that 'DeFi is dead' amid broader market slides in Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana.

• Major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana experienced significant price declines amid escalating U.S.-Iran geopolitical tensions that drove oil prices higher.
• KelpDAO suffered a catastrophic $292 million exploit attributed to North Korea's Lazarus group, with LayerZero identifying flaws in Kelp's system architecture as the vulnerability vector.
• The Kelp hack triggered a broader $13 billion DeFi crisis within 48 hours, demonstrating systemic contagion risks across the decentralized finance ecosystem.
• Aave protocol experienced a $6 billion deposit withdrawal following the Kelp incident, exposing structural vulnerabilities in major DeFi lending platforms.
• A security breach at Vercel platform forced cryptocurrency developers to urgently revoke and regenerate API keys to prevent unauthorized access to their projects.
• The crypto community described DeFi as functionally "dead" in light of the Kelp exploit, raising serious concerns about the viability and safety of decentralized finance protocols.
• Web3 venture capital firms face a differentiation challenge as the industry matures and investor focus shifts toward security and fundamental viability over innovation alone.
• Paxos Labs leadership argues that stablecoins offer legitimate business value by enabling companies to convert operational costs into revenue-generating opportunities.
• Bitcoin price remained constrained below $79,000 despite discussions about quantum-safe wallet technology potentially attracting long-term holders.
• Market analysts debate whether geopolitical risks, Federal Reserve policy concerns, and traditional asset volatility will continue to suppress cryptocurrency valuations in the near term.

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