On July 17, the Cyberspace Administration of China, in conjunction with relevant parties, proposed the 'Global Cooperation Initiative for Interoperability and Trust among Intelligent Agents' during the main forum of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence. The initiative aims to build a consensus among all parties and collaboratively create an open, trustworthy, secure, and inclusive ecosystem for intelligent agents with global partners. (Xinhua News Agency)

On July 17, the VIX panic index reached a new high in over a week, closing up 1.7 points at 18.44.

On July 17, continuing the decline from the previous day, U.S. optical communication stocks collectively fell pre-market. Among them, Applied Optoelectronics and AXT Inc dropped over 7%, while MaxLinear, Credo Technology, Corning, Lightwave Logic, Coherent, and Astera Labs fell over 6%. Ciena, POET Technologies, MaxLinear Technology, Lumentum, and Tower Semiconductor dropped over 5%.

On July 17, continuing yesterday's downward trend, storage concept stocks in the U.S. stock market collectively declined in pre-market trading. Among them, SK Hynix fell over 3% to $147.5, indicating that the stock is likely to open below the IPO issuance price of $149.

On July 17, U.S. stock index futures fell as the sell-off pressure on semiconductor stocks intensified, prompting investors to seek opportunities in other sectors of the market. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped over 2%, while S&P 500 futures fell more than 1%. Nvidia (NVDA.US) led the decline among the 'Magnificent Seven' in pre-market trading, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is nearing bear market territory, continuing the downward trend from Thursday. However, despite the S&P 500 closing down 0.5% on Thursday, 369 of its component stocks rose while 132 fell, indicating that the overall market breadth remains healthy. Barclays strategist Venu Krishna noted, 'The enthusiasm for AI capital expenditures is beginning to cool, but the semiconductor sector still significantly outperforms the broader market, while software stocks continue to lag, suggesting that the recent market rotation is gradual rather than decisive.'

In pre-market trading, storage chip stocks are broadly declining. Seagate Technology is down about 4%, Western Digital has dropped around 6%, Micron Technology is down about 5%, and SK Hynix has decreased by approximately 2%. The three major U.S. stock index futures are also lower, with Dow futures down 0.5%, S&P 500 futures falling nearly 1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures down 1.8%.

The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence began in Shanghai on the 17th. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Shanghai on the 16th to attend the conference. In an exclusive interview with a reporter from the national broadcaster, he stated that artificial intelligence is closely related to everyone, and therefore, the United Nations hopes all parties will participate in AI governance to ensure that AI serves everyone, including the Global South.

On July 17, in response to U.S. President Trump's remarks about 'Chinese interference in U.S. elections', Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated at a regular press conference that the U.S. claims are purely fabricated and malicious slander, which have long been proven to be groundless. Lin emphasized that China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, has no interest in, and has never interfered in U.S. elections. On the contrary, it is the U.S. that frequently interferes in other countries' internal affairs, conducts indiscriminate surveillance on governments, businesses, and ordinary people around the world, and engages in large-scale theft of foreign citizens' data. The international community sees this clearly. 'We urge the U.S. to reflect on itself, stop the baseless smear campaign against China, and refrain from using China as a talking point in elections, and instead do more to promote beneficial relations between China and the U.S.' (Xinhua News Agency)

On July 17, according to documents from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Zhongji Xuchuang Co., Ltd. has passed the listing hearing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Coronation Asset Management Ltd., a South African asset management company with a management scale of $47 billion, has cut its investments in chip manufacturers and increased its allocation to the Indian market, as expectations for artificial intelligence (AI) concept stocks have risen to nearly insurmountable levels. The company's $3.1 billion global emerging markets fund reduced its combined holdings in SK Hynix and TSMC from approximately 8% at the end of December last year to about 5% in the second quarter. (Bloomberg)