Big tech drove U.S. stocks higher even as most sectors lagged. Crypto, meanwhile, had a rough day, while regulatory innovation quietly picked up in Asia. Investors are navigating mixed signals about earnings strength, policy clarity, and risk appetite.

The S&P 500 rose about 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5%, powered by a blockbuster deal between Amazon and OpenAI worth $38 billion. Nvidia and other AI-chip names also rallied after the U.S. gave broader access to its chips. Meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped ~0.5%, weighed down by consumer and healthcare stocks. The result: a narrow market breadth with tech doing the heavy lifting.

The crypto market cap dropped around 3.5%, with Bitcoin breaking below $108 K and Ethereum down ~4.5%. DeFi protocols were hit by a $128 million hack at Balancer, and major liquidations followed. The sentiment swing signals a shift from speculative euphoria to defensive posture in digital assets.

In a quiet but important move, Hong Kong announced a liberalised regime for crypto trading and a pilot for broader tokenisation of assets. The region is positioning itself as a fintech gateway, which could have long-term implications for how digital assets integrate into capital markets globally.

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Today told a layered story: big tech still commanding attention and lifting markets, crypto punished by risk aversion and structural flaws, and Asia quietly accelerating the token-economy play. The question going forward: Will market breadth catch up, or will the rally remain narrow and selective? Keep your radar on earnings, policy signals, and risk-zones in crypto.