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Bloomberg reported that the US paused strikes against Iran for a second night while Iran signaled it was refraining from retaliation and held talks with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, easing concerns over Middle East energy disruptions.
After 13 straight nights of strikes aimed at degrading Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping, the US has held off since late Friday without explanation. Iran's army said Tehran had halted its retaliation. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia told state TV that the US may have devised other scenarios but the current situation is not what they desire, warning that if Americans insist on continuing, the geography of the war will expand.
Iranian and Omani deputy foreign ministers met in Tehran on Friday and Saturday to discuss maritime navigation through Hormuz. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the talks were constructive and some progress was made, though traffic through the strait remained unchanged.
The halt eased concerns over energy supplies. US equity-index futures rallied and Brent crude fell as much as 7.4% to below $90 a barrel before paring losses.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said on NBC's Meet the Press that he wouldn't say Trump had decided against escalation, adding the president is keeping all options on the table and giving the talks some space. Waltz said talks were ongoing at every level up to the highest level of Iranian and US leadership.
Axios reported that Admiral Brad Cooper, the top US commander overseeing the Middle East, recommended stopping strikes because they had reached the limit of their effectiveness and the US had exhausted its list of targets. Waltz denied concerns about depleted Patriot interceptor stocks.
Trump said late Friday the US is "locked and loaded" for major strikes but has not decided whether to proceed. White House spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump prefers a diplomatic solution but retains all options.

According to CNBC, a temporary pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran appeared to hold on Monday after negotiations over a lasting peace ran into fresh obstacles over the weekend. The U.S. military stopped two weeks of strikes on Friday as diplomats sought to give peace talks room to proceed, while Iran has also held back from military operations against regional targets in recent days and said it would reciprocate after a China-led effort to restart stalled diplomatic talks in Pakistan. Saudi military strikes on Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen and a reported Ukrainian strike on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea underscored the risk of further escalation. Investors responded to the pause with oil prices falling about 6% early Monday. Analysts said the key economic issue is maritime security and the restoration of toll-free, two-way traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which remained closed as the U.S. maintained its blockade. Oman has emerged as a key intermediary, with an Omani delegation reportedly in Tehran on Friday and Saturday to seek a provisional arrangement for shipping through the waterway.

Bloomberg reported that CXMT Corp.'s shares rose 535% when they began trading in Shanghai on Monday, making the memory chipmaker China's largest listed firm onshore. The robust debut came after the company raised 66.6 billion yuan ($9.8 billion) in the second-largest IPO in China's history. Formerly known as ChangXin Memory Technologies, CXMT sold 6.688 billion shares at 8.66 yuan apiece. At its session high of 55.03 yuan, the company is valued at about 3.7 trillion yuan, surpassing all other A-share companies. As the world's fourth-largest DRAM maker, CXMT has emerged as Beijing's best hope of reducing dependence on foreign suppliers in high-bandwidth memory, a critical component for AI data centers. The Hefei-based company is buttressed by retail investor demand, attractive valuations, and state-backed support for markets. The retail portion was 212 times oversubscribed, with individual investors submitting 9.4 million orders for 7.07 trillion yuan worth of shares, about 10 times the retail order book of SpaceX's IPO. Regulators remain cautious about IPO valuations, requiring comparison against peers globally. The IPO price implies 2.4 times book value, a 56% discount to global DRAM peers SK Hynix, Micron and Nanya, and a 77% discount to Chinese chipmakers SMIC and Hua Hong, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Oil prices fell sharply at the start of Monday's trade as traders assessed Middle East supply risks. According to Jin10, Brent crude futures dropped about 6% to around $91 a barrel after settling lower on Friday, while WTI crude futures fell below $84 a barrel.
European natural gas prices also fell as much as 7.8%. The United States paused airstrikes on Iran over the weekend, while the Houthis said they attacked targets inside Saudi Arabia.
After 13 days of sustained strikes on Iran, the United States paused operations late Friday, raising questions about U.S. President Donald Trump's next move. Iran's army said Tehran had suspended its response.
The Houthis in Yemen said they struck Saudi Aramco facilities in the Red Sea port cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday, though Riyadh and Saudi Aramco did not immediately confirm the claim. Brent crude has risen about 30% this month and briefly topped $100 a barrel last week as the conflict between the United States and Iran spread from the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea.

According to the announcement from Binance, the platform will support the Nokia (NOK) cash dividend distribution via bStocks for NOKB holders. Eligible users will receive dividends in the form of NOKB bStocks, with the net cash dividend reinvested after applicable withholding taxes, fees, costs, and other deductions into additional units or fractions of the same underlying security. For on-chain holders of NOKB, the dividend will be delivered through a multiplier adjustment. Binance said general trading of NOKB/USDT will not be affected by the distribution. The announcement also states that users with NOKB holdings on the record date snapshot at 2026-07-28 00:00 (UTC) will be eligible for the dividend distribution. Binance added that dividends earned from assets held in other accounts will be credited to the Spot account, including but not limited to Savings Account and Margin Account. The exchange said it will handle the technical requirements for users involved in the event.
At 2026-07-27 23:45 (UTC), Binance will suspend the Token Conversion service for 1:1 swaps between NOK stock and NOKB bStocks. At the same time, deposits and withdrawals of NOKB tokens will also be suspended, and Binance said users should allow enough time for deposits to be fully processed before that time. Deposits, withdrawals, and the Token Conversion service for NOKB will resume when the distribution is completed, and no further announcement will be posted. Binance Convert will also pause the conversion of NOKB and all associated pairs at 2026-07-27 23:45 (UTC). The announcement says reinvestment and distribution of dividends will occur after deduction of withholding tax.

According to the announcement from Binance, the exchange is launching a new Word of the Day (WOTD) game with the theme “Binance AI Agent.” The activity period runs from 2026-07-27 00:30 (UTC) to 2026-08-02 23:59 (UTC). Participants who complete 5 Words can unlock a share of 15 BNB in rewards. Binance said the game is an educational word-guessing activity designed to help users build crypto vocabulary and follow market developments. Eligible users may play up to two WOTD games per day during the activity period. Those who answer at least five questions correctly will share a 12 BNB reward pool based on their proportion of correct answers among all eligible users, with a maximum reward cap of 0.01 BNB per user.
Binance also said users who achieve at least five correct answers and join the WOTD game on five or more separate days during the activity period will be eligible to share an additional 3 BNB reward pool equally. All rewards are scheduled to be distributed by 2026-08-16 23:59 (UTC) directly to users’ Rewards Hub. The announcement also outlined access to a second WOTD game, which becomes available after users click the “Get A New WOTD” button, share the featured link on social media, and have the shared link clicked by a logged in user. In addition, new users who register for a Binance account using the “WOTD” referral code or the referral link during the activity period will receive 10% off Spot trading fees. These new users may also qualify for additional welcome rewards by completing tasks in the Rewards Hub within 14 days after registration.

Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $33.79 million during the trading days from July 20 to July 24, Eastern Time, according to SoSoValue data. According to Odaily, Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust BTC posted the largest weekly net inflow at $85.78 million, bringing its cumulative net inflow to $2.65 billion. Ark & 21Shares ETF ARKB followed with a weekly net inflow of $78.73 million and cumulative net inflows of $1.33 billion. BlackRock's ETF IBIT saw the largest weekly net outflow at $95.90 million, while its cumulative net inflow stood at $60.39 billion. As of press time, Bitcoin spot ETFs held $77.82 billion in net assets, with an ETF net asset ratio of 6.05% and cumulative net inflows of $51.39 billion.

According to Yonhap, Naver Corp. has agreed to form a strategic partnership with U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp. to jointly build a global artificial intelligence factory. Under the deal, Naver will lead the site acquisition, construction and operation of the data center, while Nvidia will supply graphics processing units.
Naver said the project is designed to capture opportunities in the global AI computing market and create new revenue streams. The company plans to expand the initial NVIDIA DSX AI factory at the GAK Sejong data center from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts by 2028, with a longer-term goal of extending the infrastructure outside the Asia-Pacific region.
Nvidia plans to invest about US$1 billion by buying Naver common shares through a third-party private placement. Brookfield is expected to provide $9 billion worth of computing infrastructure through project financing, and Naver will name the Toronto-based asset manager as preferred bidder for the next 12 weeks as talks continue to finalize the agreement.

Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Strategy, has again posted Bitcoin Tracker-related information. According to ChainCatcher, Strategy has typically disclosed changes in its Bitcoin holdings the day after such posts.

AMD will build an artificial intelligence research center in South Korea and create an open AI infrastructure ecosystem. According to Jin10, South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said it signed an AI chip ecosystem cooperation memorandum of understanding with AMD in San Francisco on the 23rd.
AMD plans to set up an AI excellence center in South Korea to support technical cooperation among South Korean companies, universities, and research institutions, AI chip software development, computing technology verification, and joint research. It will also promote cooperation with South Korean local AI chip companies.
The memorandum also includes building heterogeneous AI computing infrastructure that connects AMD's CPUs and GPUs with AI chips (NPUs) that South Korean companies have strengths in for inference. The two sides also plan to build an open AI computing ecosystem, encourage joint participation by South Korean companies, and cover memory, networking, servers, and software.

AT&T has started a five-part bond offering denominated in euros and pounds. According to Jin10, people familiar with the matter said the company is issuing four euro bonds with maturities of 4 years, 8 years, 12 years, and 19 years, as well as a 26-year pound bond. The bonds are expected to be priced later in the day. Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, and Wells Fargo Securities are managing the offering.

Stripe partnership lead Connor Fitzgerald said on X that he left the company this week. According to Foresight News, during his time at Stripe, he helped secure partnerships with Visa and others to support wallets and fintech companies issuing Visa cards backed by stablecoins.

Gold rose after a pause in fighting between the US and Iran over the weekend reduced oil supply risks and eased inflationary concerns, according to Bloomberg.

Bitcoin rose back above $65,000 as the U.S. and Iran held fire, while oil fell 5%, according to CoinDesk, with ether outperforming bitcoin and signaling the potential start of an altcoin rally.

According to CNBC, Intel closed down nearly 8% on Friday after a broad technology selloff that also hit Advanced Micro Devices and Alphabet. Jim Cramer said the move reflected growing investor resistance to heavy AI spending, while noting that Intel stock traded up more than 10% in Thursday after-hours trading after its latest results. He said Nvidia remains strong and expected the company to deliver a solid quarter, but added that the market is increasingly focusing on returns from spending rather than the spending itself. Cramer also said Apple is having its best month in three years and argued that the company benefited by not spending hundreds of billions on AI. He pointed to upcoming earnings from Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Apple this week.

According to Yonhap, South Korean stocks turned lower late Monday morning as major chip shares declined despite eased Middle East tensions. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 55.63 points, or 0.83 percent, to 6,634.99 as of 11:20 a.m. after opening 1.73 percent higher.
Foreign investors sold nearly 1.7 trillion won, outweighing a combined 1.6 trillion won in buying by retail and institutional investors. Samsung Electronics slipped 0.6 percent and SK hynix lost 0.8 percent, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics fell 1.06 percent and SK Square sank 5.59 percent. SK innovation dropped 9.15 percent and Hanwha Aerospace retreated 8.17 percent. The won was trading at 1,468.1 to the U.S. dollar, down 9.6 won from the previous session.

China’s gold imports rose for a third straight month in June to about 173 tonnes, the highest since March 2024, as retail buyers also accumulated bullion through bank-led savings plans. Ether led crypto higher while bitcoin held as a defensive anchor, according to CoinDesk, with analysts saying the market may stay range-bound as macro and earnings catalysts loom.

WTI crude oil futures fell 8.00% at the open to $83.23 per barrel. According to Jin10, that was the latest quoted price.

CITIC Securities Investment Banking said gold's downside looks limited at current levels and is more likely to remain range-bound, while copper prices are easier to rise than fall as global tariff disputes continue and supply chains keep being reshaped. Jiemian News reported that the firm said the next catalyst for a gold rally may come from unexpectedly strong fiscal and monetary easing in the U.S.
The report said the year-start U.S.-Iran conflict pushed up oil prices and changed expectations for the Federal Reserve's policy path, ending the earlier rally in nonferrous metals. It added that last year's surge in gold was driven mainly by expectations of easier liquidity and related ETF buying in Europe and the U.S., but that demand has quickly faded after oil prices turned volatile at elevated levels. Gold has since returned to pricing based on fundamentals, chiefly central bank purchases. CITIC Securities Investment Banking said copper and gold now offer a relatively attractive risk-reward profile.

Oil fell and Asian stocks gained as the US and Iran held back from retaliatory strikes, easing fears of disruption to Middle East energy supplies after a recent escalation in the conflict, according to Bloomberg.
The moves reflected a softer risk tone as traders assessed the lower chance of immediate fallout for oil markets and regional equities.

Ether-bitcoin ratio hit 0.03, its highest since late April, and traded above its 200-day simple moving average for the first time since January. Ether has gained more than 20% since the June 6 sell-off eased, according to CoinDesk, while bitcoin still accounts for 59% of total crypto market capitalization.

Shiba Inu’s team said on X that “OG culture never left, neither did SHIB,” framing the token’s recent rally as evidence that early meme coins are regaining attention. According to BeInCrypto, crypto commentator David Gokhshtein said SHIB’s move over the past two days made him more bullish and suggested an OG revival across meme coins. SHIB trades near $0.00000507, up almost 22% over the past week and 19% over the past 30 days, but down 6.08% over the past 24 hours.

AT&T Inc. has opened books on a five-part euro and pound sterling bond offering, according to Bloomberg.
The sale adds to the telecom company’s financing activity as it taps debt markets in Europe and the U.K.

South Korean authorities are stepping up pressure on exporters to bring home overseas dollar earnings after a rebound in the won, helped in part by SK Hynix Inc.’s record U.S. listing, according to Bloomberg.
The currency’s strength has given officials fresh impetus to encourage repatriation of foreign-exchange holdings.

According to Jin10, Futu Holdings (03588.HK) announced the official launch of South Korea stock trading. Qualified investors in Hong Kong and Singapore can now start trading South Korean stocks at the same time. The service covers more than 2,700 stocks on the Korea Exchange's KOSPI main board and KOSDAQ market, and it also offers pre-market auction trading on the Korea Exchange.

U.S. oil stocks traded lower before the market open, with Chevron (CVX.N) down 2.7%, Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) down 2.9%, and ConocoPhillips (COP.N) down 3.2%. According to Jin10, the declines were seen in pre-market trading.

China’s DRAM chip leader CXMT (688825.SH) listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market on July 27 with an offering price of 8.66 yuan per share and gross proceeds of 57.919 billion yuan, setting a STAR Market IPO fundraising record, according to Jiemian News. The stock closed at 47.65 yuan in the report, up 450.23% from the issue price, giving CXMT a market value of 3.19 trillion yuan and making it the largest A-share company by market capitalization.
Jiemian News also reported that demand around the listing spilled over into hotels near CXMT’s Hefei campus, with some properties near full occupancy and room rates rising sharply. A Hampton by Hilton near Hefei Xinqiao International Airport said it had been about 90% full recently, while nearby hotels were often sold out or had only a few rooms left.
CXMT was founded in Hefei in 2016 and is the only company in mainland China that has achieved large-scale mass production of DRAM chips across the full IDM chain. Its prospectus showed net losses of 8.328 billion yuan in 2022, 16.34 billion yuan in 2023 and 7.145 billion yuan in 2024, before turning a profit of 1.875 billion yuan in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, revenue was 50.8 billion yuan and net profit reached 24.762 billion yuan; for January-June 2026, the company forecast revenue of 110 billion yuan to 120 billion yuan and net profit of 50 billion yuan to 57 billion yuan.

According to Jin10, U.S. federal funds futures rose as oil prices fell, and the December contract was up 5 points.

SoftBank Corp. is getting closer to acquiring SP.LINKS Inc. after securing preferred bidder status for Blackstone Inc.’s payments service provider, people familiar with the matter said, according to Bloomberg.
The Japan payments firm is being sold by Blackstone, which bought the company and has now advanced SoftBank as the preferred bidder, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oil prices fell sharply as tensions in the Middle East eased, while CBOT soybeans and corn also declined. According to Jin10, wheat remained near high levels as the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Black Sea continued to support prices, and agricultural markets were being disrupted by "the Middle East cooling off" and "the Black Sea heating up," with supply chain risks still unresolved.

SC crude's main contract fell 8.00% intraday and was last reported at 545.30 yuan per barrel. According to Jin10, the contract was quoted at 545.30 yuan per barrel.

SK Group is moving ahead with plans to acquire the site of the former Le Méridien hotel in Seoul’s Gangnam District and build the SK Hynix headquarters there. According to Odaily, the site is about 1 kilometer from Samsung Group’s headquarters, Samsung Town, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is said to have requested that the building be 5 meters taller than Samsung’s.

China’s crude imports in July are expected to rebound from the lowest level in more than a decade, as flows through the Strait of Hormuz accelerated and refiners increased purchases of Russian oil, according to Bloomberg.
The expected pickup follows a sharp drop in imports earlier this year, the report said.

According to CNBC, U.S. stock futures rose on Sunday night ahead of a heavy week of megacap earnings and a Federal Reserve meeting. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1.2%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 294 points, or 0.6%, and S&P 500 futures added 0.7%. The move came after Ukraine struck an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, prompting Tehran to call it a "hostile and criminal act." U.S. equities are coming off another losing week, with the S&P 500 down 0.6% and the Nasdaq off 2.1% on Friday after back-to-back weekly losses, while the Dow fell 0.4% for a third straight weekly decline. Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are due to report results this week after Alphabet's disappointing earnings last week. Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, said continued AI spending is the biggest risk, while any pullback in that spending could also be unwelcome for the market. The Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest interest-rate decision on Wednesday, with markets pricing in a meaningful chance of a quarter-point hike this week, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Brent crude futures were last near $97 a barrel, and the U.S. 10 Year Treasury yield was around 4.68%.

ChinaAMC Nasdaq ETF will suspend trading from the market open on July 28, 2026, and resume trading at 10:30. According to Jin10, redemption business for the fund will continue as normal during the suspension period.

Germany's DAX 30 opened up 324.12 points, or 1.29%, at 25,415.81 on July 27. According to Jin10, Britain's FTSE 100 opened up 69.72 points, or 0.65%, at 10,805.95; France's CAC 40 opened up 77.09 points, or 0.92%, at 8,449.37; the Europe Stoxx 50 opened up 61.51 points, or 0.98%, at 6,342.45; Spain's IBEX 35 opened up 205.41 points, or 1.05%, at 19,791.11; and Italy's FTSE MIB opened up 386.77 points, or 0.75%, at 52,189.00.

Audi Group said it expects lower sales and profitability this year as worsening conditions in China and U.S. tariffs weigh on its turnaround efforts, according to Bloomberg.
The carmaker said the backdrop in China and the tariff pressure are hampering its recovery.

According to Jin10, the Indian rupee rose past 96 per U.S. dollar in the interbank order-matching system as oil prices continued to fall.

European semiconductor stocks started the week higher after the Trump administration paused plans to escalate the Iran war and boosted global equities. According to Jin10, SK Hynix rose 3.3%, Samsung Electronics gained 1.8%, ASML climbed 1.7%, ASM International added 0.5%, Infineon Technologies advanced 2.1%, and STMicroelectronics rose 1.9%. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1.6%, indicating U.S. tech stocks were set for a strong open.

Gold rose as fighting between the U.S. and Iran paused over the weekend, easing some immediate market tension. Wall Street Journal (Markets) posted on X, noting the move in the metal as investors assessed the latest geopolitical developments.
The price increase came amid uncertainty over whether the temporary pause would hold and how markets might respond if tensions resumed. Gold is often seen as a haven asset during periods of conflict and broader geopolitical stress.