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July 27, 2026 - 06:55
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(Bloomberg) — Oil fell and bonds gained with stocks and gold as the US and Iran refrained from further strikes, triggering a relief rally across markets. The dollar weakened.Brent fell as much as 7.4% to below $90 a barrel as the US paused an almost two-week run of strikes against Iran, before paring about half its losses. The global benchmark has still risen more than 50% this year after disruptions to supplies from the Middle East.Treasuries advanced, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note falling five basis points to 4.63%. European bond futures also rose along with government debt across Asia Pacific as the pullback in oil prices eased concern about inflation. The dollar, the haven of choice during the Middle East conflict, weakened against all of its Group-of-10 peers, while gold climbed about 1%.MSCI’s Asia Pacific share index climbed 0.5%, while futures contracts for the Nasdaq 100 Index rose 1.2%, indicating a rebound after a selloff in chip stocks late last week. European equities were also primed to advance. A Chinese chipmaker CXMT Corp. was the standout in Asia, jumping as much as 535% on debut.The lull in hostilities sets the tone for a pivotal week in markets, with traders focused on whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates on Wednesday after a recent surge in oil prices fueled inflation concerns. Investors also await earnings from tech bellwethers this week after a recent backlash against heavy spending on artificial intelligence rekindled concerns over whether those investments will generate adequate returns.“The pause in US-Iran hostilities has pulled oil back, but the relief in equities has been limited,” said Fabien Yip, a market analyst at IG International in Sydney. “There’s real fatigue setting in around the back and forth — markets are less willing to price a lasting de-escalation until evidence, such as resumption in strait traffic, holds.”After striking Iran for 13 days, the US has apparently held off since late Friday without explanation, raising questions about President Donald Trump’s next move. Iran’s army said Sunday that Tehran had also suspended its military response.Tensions in the Middle East had sent oil prices soaring in July, overshadowing a tamer-than-expected reading on US June consumer prices that seemed to offer Fed officials breathing room to keep rates stable.“We think the Fed will probably not hike,” Krishna Guha, head of central bank strategy at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note. “It would be odd to do so right after the better June inflation print given an uncomplicated path to hike in September if needed. But we cannot take the probability too low.”The Bank of England and Bank of Japan will also announce policy decisions this week after the Fed.In Asia, the Singapore dollar strengthened against the US currency after officials further tightened monetary policy. The Indonesian rupiah dropped with the nation’s bonds and stocks after Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo unexpectedly resigned.CXMT shares surged in their Shanghai debut, making the memory chipmaker China’s largest onshore-listed company as investors flock to beneficiaries of the AI boom. At the opening price, the company was valued at about 3.3 trillion yuan ($487 billion).In other corners of the market, non-interest-bearing gold climbed to near $4,100 an ounce, leading precious metals higher. The yen strengthened to about 163.55 per dollar.What Bloomberg Strategists Say…“Investors are taking another look at the circularity in AI themes, which points to valuation concerns down the road. Nvidia is reportedly in discussions to provide a guarantee to help OpenAI lease computing from a giant data center which is being developed by SoftBank Group. It doesn’t get much more circular than that for equity bears.”— Mark Cranfield, MLIV. For full analysis, click here.Earnings from Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms are due on Wednesday, followed by Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday. In Asia, Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. also publish results this week.“Looking ahead, tech earnings and capital expenditure plans will be firmly back on the agenda this week,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade in Sydney. “Traders remain somewhat nervy about the scale of the capex being committed, given lingering concerns over how long the return-on-investment phase may take to fully materialize.”Corporate Highlights:DeepSeek has told prospective investors in its second fundraising round that it’s suspending the deal for now, people familiar with the matter said. Nvidia Corp. is in discussions to provide a guarantee of about $250 billion to help OpenAI lease computing from a giant data center project, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Samsung Electronics won a contract worth more than $200 billion to supply chips to Broadcom Inc., highlighting robust demand for AI infrastructure. Nvidia will invest $1 billion in Naver Corp. to help finance an AI data center in South Korea. Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of smartphone processors, plans to increase prices by a percentage in the double digits. Some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures rose 0.8% as of 1:50 p.m. Tokyo time Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 0.5% Japan’s Topix rose 1.3% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8% The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.6% CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1403 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 163.59 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7691 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin rose 1.1% to $65,298.31 Ether rose 2.2% to $1,954.34 BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 4.63% Australia’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 4.99% CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 5.2% to $84.71 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.9% to $4,090.44 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.–With assistance from Winnie Hsu, Momoka Yokoyama, Elaine Lai and Kanoko Matsuyama.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
