Hopes of a quick ceasefire between Israel and Iran were dashed by several social media posts from U.S. President Donald Trump. As he took an early departure from the Group of Seven summit, Trump said it “certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire” and that he was involved in something “much bigger than that.”

What’s bigger than a ceasefire? An escalation in conflict on the prospect of the U.S. joining the hostilities in the Middle East. Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, threatened Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he is an “easy target” and wants him to “surrender.”

Trump’s posts on Truth Social brought U.S. stocks lower and caused oil prices, which were on the retreat Monday, to shoot up more than 4% during Tuesday’s trading session. A weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales report in May also added to the heavy sentiment in markets.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate-setting meeting will conclude Wednesday. While central bankers are expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the committee will release updated projections of where they see rates going. Chair Jerome Powell will also answer questions from the media at this press conference. All of those are market-moving events — so it’s a relief, at least, they come from official communiques.

Trump weighs strike on Iran
A U.S. military strike against Iran is one of the options Trump is considering, after meeting with his top national security advisors on Tuesday afternoon, current and former administration officials told NBC News. Earlier in the day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. knows “exactly” where the Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is “hiding,” and demanded “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

Markets fear escalation of conflict
U.S. stocks retreated Tuesday as Trump’s rhetoric on Iran ramped up. The S&P 500 fell 0.84%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.91%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost 0.85% as regional bourses slipped. Israel’s Tel Aviv 35 index, however, touched an all-time high during the day, though it pared some gains.

U.S. passes landmark crypto bill
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed the GENIUS Act, a landmark crypto bill that establishes federal guardrails, including full reserve backing, monthly audits, and anti-money laundering compliance, for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. It also opens the door to a range of issuers, including banks, fintechs, and major retailers looking to launch their own stablecoins or integrate them into existing payment systems.

Oil supply chains might get strained
The CEOs of TotalEnergies, Shell, and EnQuest told CNBC on Tuesday that further attacks on critical energy infrastructure in Iran could have serious consequences for the global supply and prices of oil. Some shipowners are already steering clear of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, according to the world’s largest shipping association, reflecting a growing sense of unease as the Israel-Iran conflict rages on.

Revenue-less Regencell worth billions
Shares of Regencell, an early-stage, Hong Kong-based bioscience company with no revenue, spiked 30% Tuesday, rocketed 280% Monday, and have risen more than 58,000% in 2025 to hit $36 billion in market value. Regencell — which develops traditional Chinese medicine formula — is the latest example of a speculative international stock attracting attention during summer trading.

[PRO] Global stocks will reign: Investors
The era of U.S. exceptionalism might be coming to an end. Not only have global stocks vastly outperformed those in America year to date, investors also think they will be the best-performing asset class over the next five years, according to the results of Bank of America’s latest fund manager survey.

The Fed is likely to keep rates the same but give a forecast that moves markets. What to expect

While any immediate movement on interest rates seems improbable, the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, which concludes Wednesday, will feature important signals that still could move markets.

Among the biggest things to watch will be whether Federal Open Market Committee members stick with their previous forecast of two rate cuts this year, how they see inflation trending, and any reaction from Chair Jerome Powell to what has become a concerted White House campaign for easier monetary policy.

As things stand heading into the meeting, markets are pricing in the next cut to come in September, which would be the one-year anniversary of a surprisingly aggressive half-percentage-point reduction the FOMC instituted amid concerns over the labor market. The committee added two more quarter-point moves by the end of the year and has been on hold since.

The Senate on Tuesday passed the GENIUS Act, a landmark bill that for the first time establishes federal guardrails for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins and creates a regulated pathway for private companies to issue digital dollars with the blessing of the federal government.

The bill passed with a 68-30 vote.

It’s a milestone day for the crypto industry, which put around $250 million into the 2024 cycle to elect what’s now considered to be the most pro-crypto Congress in U.S. history, and for President Donald Trump‘s sprawling digital asset empire.

“The GENIUS Act will protect consumers, enable responsible innovation, and safeguard the dominance of the U.S. dollar,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., one of the sponsors of the bill, in a statement.

The bill still faces hurdles in the Republican-held House, but passage in the Senate signals a turning point — not just for the technology, but for the political clout behind it.

The GENIUS Act, short for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, sets guardrails for the industry, including full reserve backing, monthly audits, and anti-money laundering compliance.

It also opens the door to a broader range of issuers, including banks, fintechs, and major retailers looking to launch their own stablecoins or integrate them into existing payment systems.

The legislation grants sweeping authority to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who last week told a Senate appropriations subcommittee in a hearing that the U.S. stablecoin market could grow nearly eightfold to over $2 trillion in the next few years.

The bill’s passage drew sharp criticism from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who accused Republicans of “rubberstamping Trump’s crypto corruption,” and allowing the president to sell “access to the government for personal profit.”

Merkley had pushed for an amendment to bar elected officials from personally profiting off digital assets, but said GOP lawmakers blocked all efforts to hold a floor vote.

In May, Senate Democrats unveiled the “End Crypto Corruption Act,” spearheaded by Merkley and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, meant to prohibit elected officials and senior executive branch personnel and their families from issuing or endorsing digital assets.

GENIUS now heads to the House, which has its own version of a stablecoin bill dubbed STABLE. Both prohibit yield-bearing consumer stablecoins — but diverge on who regulates what. 

The Senate’s version centralizes oversight with Treasury, while the House splits authority between the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency, and others. Reconciling the two could take a while, according to congressional aides.

The GENIUS Act was supposed to be the easiest crypto bill to pass, but took months to reach the Senate floor, failed once, and passed only after fierce negotiations.

“We thought it would be easiest to start with stablecoins,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said on stage in Las Vegas at this year’s Bitcoin 2025 conference, which focused heavily on stablecoins.

“It has been extremely difficult. I had no idea how hard this was going to be,” she said.

At the same event, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., echoed the frustration: “It has been murder to get them there,” he said of the 18 Senate Democrats who ultimately crossed the aisle.

Stablecoins are a subset of cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of real-world assets. About 99% of all stablecoins are tethered to the price of the U.S. dollar.

They offer instant settlement and lower transaction fees, cutting out the middlemen and directly threatening legacy payment rails.

Shopify has already rolled out USDC-powered payments through Coinbase and Stripe. Bank of America‘s CEO said last week at a Morgan Stanley conference that the bank is having conversations with the industry and individually exploring stablecoin issuance.

Deutsche Bank found that stablecoin transactions hit $28 trillion last year, surpassing that of Mastercard and Visa, combined.

Still, there are limits. The GENIUS Act restricts non-financial large tech companies from directly issuing stablecoins unless they establish or partner with regulated financial entities — a provision meant to blunt monopoly concerns.

JPMorgan Chase, meanwhile, is taking a different route, launching JPMD, a deposit token designed to function like a stablecoin but tightly integrated with the traditional banking system.

Issued on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, JPMD is only available to institutional clients and offers features like 24/7 settlement and interest payments — part of the broader push by legacy finance to adapt to the stablecoin era without ceding ground to crypto-native firms.

Forbes recently estimated Trump’s crypto holdings at nearly $1 billion, lifting his total net worth to $5.6 billion.

WATCH: President Trump’s crypto dinner