The U.S. imposed higher tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners as military tensions involving Iran escalated in the Middle East, driving investors toward safe-haven assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up while the Nasdaq Composite fell, and Europe’s STOXX 600 rebounded slightly. U.S. Treasury yields climbed to multidecade highs as markets priced in the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate hike.

Mali’s mines ministry plan shows the country’s industrial gold production is expected to remain below 60 tons a year from 2026 to 2029, peaking at 57 tons in 2028 versus a record 66.5 tons in 2023. Output has been pressured by the 2023 mining code and disputes with foreign miners including Barrick, contributing to a drop to 42.2 tons in 2025. Over the same period, industrial gold reserves are projected to fall from 906.8 tons in 2026 to 748.6 tons in 2029.

Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP) said on July 24, 2026 it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire edge AI chip company Hailo. The deal is expected to close toward the end of the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Hailo’s Hailo-8/10/15 AI accelerator and vision SoC lineup targets workloads ranging from low-power smart cameras to edge servers, with more than 100 customers and a developer community of over 10,000 users. Microchip said the acquisition is intended to strengthen its technology portfolio and commercialization capabilities in edge AI and intelligent vision.

A U.S. federal judge in Northern California has paused Paramount-Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, citing concerns it could violate antitrust law and lift film-distribution market concentration to 27%. The lawsuit is led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and joined by attorneys general from 11 other states. The deal has been pushed back to June next year from an original target of late September, and Paramount’s stock fell 3% on the day.

The Trump administration announced new 10% to 25% tariffs on a range of goods from major trading partners, while oil prices remained up more than 28% for the month, adding to inflation concerns ahead of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting. Markets have trimmed expectations that the Fed will hold rates steady, with the implied probability falling to 64% from 87%, according to CME Group FedWatch. The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.6% and logged a second straight weekly decline, while Intel sank 7.9% despite a 25% revenue jump, highlighting worries about costs and end-market demand. Digital Realty surged 10.9% on strong AI data-center demand.

VaultAI’s token ($VauAI) officially went live on the Solana blockchain on 2026-07-25, marking the start of public trading. The project published its only official contract address and warned users to watch for counterfeit tokens and phishing links. This listing marks $VauAI’s first tradable deployment on a major public blockchain, making it a new asset launch event. The announcement did not disclose exchange listing details, initial liquidity size, tokenomics, or any audit report.

Sugar prices ended Friday modestly higher, with October NY world sugar #11 rising +0.08 (+0.54%) and October London ICE white sugar #5 up +1.00 (0.22%). A slightly weaker dollar and pre-weekend short covering helped lift prices after the market hit a one-week low earlier in the session. Declines in crude oil weighed on ethanol values, potentially encouraging mills to divert less cane toward ethanol and increasing sugar supply. Markets also monitored monsoon developments in India and the risk that an El Niño could curb rainfall in major producing regions.

Cocoa futures rebounded on Friday, with the September ICE New York contract up 1.41% and the September ICE London contract up 1.23%. The gains were attributed to pre-weekend short covering and a slightly weaker U.S. dollar. The rally came despite signs of ample supply, including Ivory Coast port arrivals running 21% higher year on year and ICE inventories at a two-year high of 3,319,249 bags. Longer-term, tighter expectations for 2026/27—linked to El Niño risks and softer crop outlooks—have supported prices, including a Transgraph Consulting forecast for the global surplus to shrink to 80,000 metric tons.