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Spot gold has surpassed $4,660 per ounce, rising 1.24% for the day. The USD/JPY exchange rate has dipped 10 points in the short term, currently at 159.06.

Spot gold has surpassed $4,660 per ounce, rising 1.24% for the day. The USD/JPY exchange rate has dipped 10 points in the short term, currently at 159.06.

According to Beating AI, SoftBank plans to issue 1 trillion yen (approximately 6.3 billion USD) in corporate bonds to individual investors in Japan, setting a record for corporate bond issuance to retail investors in the country. The bonds will have a term of 7 years with a preliminary interest rate of 4.3% to 4.9%, with a minimum investment of 1 million yen. The funds will be used for AI investments and to repay old debts, with OpenAI being one of the largest funding needs currently. This marks SoftBank's third bond issuance to retail investors this year, following 418 billion yen in April and 260 billion yen in June. SoftBank previously committed to an additional investment of 30 billion USD in OpenAI, with the final 10 billion USD expected to be paid in October, bringing the total investment to 64.6 billion USD for approximately 13% ownership. However, the 1 trillion yen is still insufficient. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sharon Chen estimates that after this funding, SoftBank will still face a funding gap of over 20 billion USD, making it likely to continue issuing bonds overseas in the short term. To attract retail investors, SoftBank is offering significantly higher interest rates. Currently, the yields on Japan's 5-year and 10-year government bonds are about 2.13% and 2.88%, respectively, while these bonds offer a maximum yield of 4.9%. SoftBank expects to receive an A rating from Japan's JCR, but S&P currently rates it at BB+, which is one notch below investment grade. Analysts state that banks are finding it increasingly difficult to increase their investments due to rating, term, and their own funding pressures, leading SoftBank to increasingly rely on individual investors.