U.S. stock futures rose ahead of closely watched CPI data, with Dow futures up 0.14%, Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.71% and S&P 500 futures up 0.28%. WTI crude gained 0.64% and gold rose 0.61% in premarket trading. Investors were balancing inflation caution with a fresh wave of AI- and tech-driven headlines. Elon Musk said AI revenue would exceed all other SpaceX business revenue in September and could account for 99% of the company's valuation within five years. Nvidia was reported to be targeting a top-tier open model with its next-generation Nemotron 4, with employees involved in the project expecting the largest version to have at least 1 trillion total parameters, roughly double Nemotron 3 Ultra released in June. South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were also in focus on expectations they may unveil what could be their largest-ever shareholder return programs later this month, potentially including special dividends, share buybacks and stock cancellations. Market discussion has put the combined scale at more than 200 trillion won as the AI-led memory chip upcycle boosts cash generation. Other catalysts included Google's disclosure that Gemini has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, strong quarterly results from AI-linked companies including CoreWeave, Lumentum and NEBIUS, and SanDisk's plan to hold its 2026 Investor Day on August 13 U.S. Eastern Time, its first major strategic update since being separated from Western Digital. In Washington, Senator Sanders wrote to the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms urging them to honor prior public commitments to pause AI development and warning Congress could intervene.