The Bank of Japan left its assessments of nine regional economies unchanged in its quarterly report.

CNN, citing a US official, reports Trump decided Wednesday night to order a new round of strikes on Iran, partly because the Strait of Hormuz had not fully reopened and because Iran attacked vessels transiting the strait while he was at the NATO summit. The official said the timing — an attack while Trump met other leaders — particularly provoked him; Trump said he had lost patience with the pace of nuclear talks, accused Tehran of lying and breaking agreements, and called the nuclear issue '99.9%' of his work.

Morgan Stanley China equity chief strategist Wang Ying said in a note that late July through August could be a key window for a sustained rebound in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese equities. She noted recent outperformance versus major global peers has been partly driven by continued southbound Stock Connect inflows. Wang said Q2 results from e-commerce firms may show the profit hit from price wars has peaked, and further improvement in AI commercialization could underpin related names. She advised investors significantly underweight Hong Kong and mainland equities to consider using recent volatility to gradually add fundamentally stronger stocks.