☕️ Good morning, friends,

We always thought anything was possible in China. Turns out, the same goes for the U.S.

🇺🇸 An EV driver got a ticket because “the exhaust was too loud.” Check out his reaction.

In other news: the profits of the world’s largest automakers halved in the first half of 2025. As passionate cyclists, we’ve already upped our monthly savings rate in the MSCI Bike.

BENCHMARKS

Highlights

📈 KOSPI tops 3,400 for the first time

Foreign investors pile in, SK hynix and Samsung hit record highs. Tax relief gives the market fresh momentum.

🇨🇳 Shanghai struggles despite tech rally

Shanghai slips slightly into the red: Profit-taking pushes the Composite below 3,900. Tech stocks provide support, but the air is thin ahead of the Fed meeting.

NUMBER OF THE DAY

Global sales of batteries for energy storage systems doubled to 240,21 GWh in the first 6 months this year.

🔋 China scales up: From today’s 95 GW to 180 GW of storage capacity by 2027, backed by a USD 35 billion investment. For comparison: that’s roughly the stored energy equivalent of 180 large nuclear power plants. Old coal plants and desert areas are being converted into battery parks.

📈 Market euphoria: CATL shares jumped 10%. The battery giant already controls 42% of China’s market. The kicker: in Hong Kong, the stock trades at a 20% premium over Shenzhen — global investors are willing to pay up for China’s energy transition champion.

Watch: Energy storage is the key to the green transition. Without it, solar power generated during the day goes to waste. China is building the same dominance here as it already has in solar panels and EV batteries.

TOP BIT

💻 Nvidia Under Monopoly Suspicion in China

China’s market regulator has accused the U.S. chip giant Nvidia of violating the anti-monopoly law and has opened a further investigation. The company is said to have failed to comply with conditions tied to its Mellanox acquisition. Shares dropped more than 2% in premarket trading.

The Details

📑 Preliminary Probe Completed: The anti-monopoly bureau found violations of …