Key stories from global financial media overnight and this morning include:

1. Trump Plays Down Prospect of Iran Negotiations, Vows Action if Red Sea Shipping Threatened

2. US Aims to Impose New Tariffs by Friday, Replacing Expiring 10% Global Levy

3. OpenAI Surpasses 10 Million Agent Users, ChatGPT Work Drives Adoption Surge

4. Nvidia Details New AI-Focused Vera CPU, Directly Challenging AMD and Intel

5. SpaceX Braces for Historic Share Unlock, Over $100 Billion in Stock to Become Eligible

6. Bank of America Shifts Stance on Pound to Neutral, Expects News Flow from New PM

Trump Plays Down Prospect of Iran Negotiations, Vows Action if Red Sea Shipping Threatened

US President Donald Trump has downplayed the possibility of imminent negotiations with Iran. The two nations continue to exchange strikes, and the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen has threatened to block the Red Sea shipping lane near Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, Trump stated the US would respond if the group disrupted Red Sea shipping lanes, though he did not provide specifics.

These remarks follow ten consecutive days of US-Iran strikes, as mediators continue efforts to revive talks.

Speaking at the White House alongside Lebanon's president, Trump said, "Iran is desperate to negotiate, but we have no interest in talking until they are ready for a meaningful dialogue." He vowed that America would continue to fight.

US Aims to Impose New Tariffs by Friday, Replacing Expiring 10% Global Levy

According to informed sources, President Donald Trump is preparing to impose new tariffs on goods from dozens of economies no later than Friday. This move aims to ensure his tariff regime remains in place even after a temporary 10% global levy expires.

The Trump administration last month proposed new tariffs of at least 10% on 60 trading partners. Sources indicate his team is preparing to implement these tariffs before the week ends, though it remains unclear if the final rate will differ from the initial proposal.

Trump's temporary tariffs are set to expire on Friday. If the new round is enacted by then, the White House could avoid a gap between tariff regimes. However, the plan is not yet finalized and could still be adjusted.

OpenAI Surpasses 10 Million Agent Users, ChatGPT Work Drives Adoption Surge

OpenAI announced on July 21st that the combined weekly active users for its AI agent products—the coding tool Codex and the general-purpose task agent ChatGPT Work—have surpassed 10 million, nearly doubling from earlier this month. This milestone was reached less than two weeks after ChatGPT Work's official launch.

The direct catalyst for user growth was the July 9th release of the GPT-5.6 model and several product integrations. On the same day, OpenAI merged the standalone Codex app into the ChatGPT desktop client and launched the ChatGPT Work agent mode for knowledge workers. ChatGPT Work can break down complex instructions into multi-step tasks, autonomously generate spreadsheets, presentations, and documents, and connect to third-party apps like Slack and Google Drive.

The growth rate has been staggering. Codex had fewer than 1 million weekly active users in February, reached 5 million in early June, and accelerated after GPT-5.6's launch, jumping from 6 million to 8 million in a single week. Internal OpenAI data also shows 97.9% of employees now use Codex, with non-developer adoption growing 137-fold over eight months.

Nvidia Details New AI-Focused Vera CPU, Directly Challenging AMD and Intel

On Tuesday, Nvidia formally released detailed specifications for its data center CPU, Vera, including chip specs, benchmark data, and architecture information for potential customers to fully evaluate. A Nvidia representative revealed that Vera chips were delivered to customers in June, with buyers including OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX.

The CPU move is another step in Nvidia's vertical integration strategy: designing more of the core chips and technologies within its systems year by year. Nvidia's goal is no longer simply to sell chips but to deliver fully integrated compute rack systems to customers.

Nvidia stated this strategy helps engineers fully unleash GPU performance. As competition intensifies from AMD's in-house chips and various custom compute solutions, this move is expected to solidify Nvidia systems as the preferred choice in leading AI labs.

SpaceX Braces for Historic Share Unlock, Over $100 Billion in Stock to Become Eligible

SpaceX has set the stage for one of the largest share unlocks in capital markets history, with up to $116 billion worth of stock becoming eligible for sale for the first time next month.

Restrictions preventing certain insiders from selling up to 911.5 million shares will lift on August 6th, just two days after the rocket, satellite, and AI company reports its first quarterly results. This is only the beginning, with billions more shares set to become tradable before year-end.

Investors are assessing the potential impact of this unusual phased unlock over the coming months. Since completing the largest-ever initial public offering last month, SpaceX's share price has struggled to recapture the initial frenzy. As the lock-up expires, early investors and those who bought in private markets will seek to cash in substantial returns, while short sellers may increase bearish bets.

Bank of America Shifts Stance on Pound to Neutral, Expects News Flow from New PM

Bank of America strategists have softened their "above-consensus bullish view" on the British pound, expecting recent gains to recede amid persistent political uncertainty.

In a report led by Kamal Sharma, the strategists stated their view on sterling has shifted to tactically neutral following the currency's "sharp, rapid ascent" this month.

Sterling has risen more than 1% against the euro this month; it fell 0.3% on Tuesday to around 0.85, nearing Bank of America's year-end target of 0.84.