Aug 3 — US-Iran de-escalation, Fed dissent, and AI spending…

The QuantAlpha Briefing · Aug 2, 2026 · 3m

• Trump announced a halt to strikes on Iran after preliminary deal parameters were reached — the de-escalation drove oil down more than 4% to ~$81 and broadly reduced geopolitical risk premiums. • The Fed held rates at 3.5–3.75% but three members dissented, and Q2 GDP slowed to 1.5% annualized from 2.1% — a divided committee and weakening growth leave rate-cut timing genuinely uncertain ahead of Tuesday's July payrolls… • Meta fell 10% on higher AI spending plans while a cold-wallet attack hit 4,500 Bitcoin addresses for ~$89M and an Iran-linked exchange allegedly routed $676M through Binance…