Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on July 15, 2026.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures rallied on Sunday night, and oil prices declined amid a pause in fighting between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend. Traders were also looking ahead to a demanding week of megacap earnings and a potentially surprising Federal Reserve meeting.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 244 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.6%, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 1.2%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.24% while the Topix rose 0.60%. The Kospi advanced 0.44%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 1.49% higher. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.97%.
Oil prices slid after Iran said it will suspend attacks so long as a U.S. pause on fighting also holds following nearly two weeks of escalating attacks. International benchmark Brent crude futures fell more than 5% to around $92 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 5% to roughly $85 a barrel.
Tensions elsewhere mounted after Ukraine struck an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, which prompted Tehran to accuse Kyiv of a “hostile and criminal act.”
U.S. equities are coming off yet another losing week, as a pullback in chip stocks and uncertainty over the war with Iran weighed on investors. On Friday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slid 0.6% and 2.1%, respectively, posting back-to-back weekly losses. The Dow fell 0.4%, notching a third straight week of declines.
The week ahead will have no shortage of challenges for the major averages. A succession of quarterly reports from Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft will either soothe investor fears of rampant artificial intelligence spending, or add to them, after Alphabet’s disappointing results in the last week. The results could directly affect semiconductor companies that are the chief beneficiaries of the AI spending spree.
“The biggest risk is the continuation of the spend,” said Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management. “And then the problem is, if they do listen to shareholders and wind down a little bit of that spend, or reduce the growth of that spend, then the rest of the market is not going to like it.”
“So there’s like a seesaw factor,” he said.
The Fed will make its latest decision on interest rates on Wednesday. The consensus view is that the central bank will hike rates in September, but markets are pricing in the meaningful possibility that the Fed will lift its benchmark borrowing rate a quarter percentage point as soon as this week, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
China memory chipmaker CXMT skyrockets 470% in blockbuster Shanghai debut
Shares of chipmaker Changxin Technology Group rose about 470% Monday as they debuted on Shanghai’s tech-heavy STAR Market, making CXMT the most valuable China-listed company.
The Hefei-based company raised 57.92 billion yuan ($8.6 billion) after pricing its IPO at 8.66 yuan per share, making it Asia’s biggest so far this year.
CXMT shares surged to over 49 yuan apiece on open, giving the company a market cap of about 3.3 trillion yuan.
—Jenny Lee
Singapore tightens monetary policy as rising oil prices rekindle inflation risk
Singapore on Monday tightened its monetary policy for a second consecutive time, moving preemptively against a renewed oil price surge even as inflation at home stays subdued.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it will increase the rate of appreciation of the Singapore dollar’s nominal effective exchange rate policy band “very slightly,” with the adjustment smaller than April’s. The width of the band and the level at which it is centered were left unchanged.
“In an environment of continued heightened uncertainty, this calibrated adjustment to the policy stance builds on the tightening in April,” the MAS said in its statement.
Singapore’s core inflation, which excludes accommodation and transportation costs, ticked up to 1.6% in June from 1.4% in May, near the bottom of the MAS’s 1.5%–2.5% forecast range for this year, with headline inflation at 1.9%.
—Anniek Bao
Precious metals trade higher amid lower bond yields, weaker greenback
Precious metals were trading higher Monday, as the U.S. dollar fell and Treasury yields dropped.
Spot silver traded 2.76% higher at $59.77 per ounce, while spot gold advanced 1.39% to $4,108.91 per ounce.
“Though the ride may be bumpier versus 2024-2025, we believe the gold bull cycle still has legs. A hawkish Fed pivot shouldn’t change the structural post-Covid dynamic for gold,” said State Street Investment Management in a note.
—Justina Lee
Naver jumps over 12% as it deepens Nvidia partnership with $1 billion share allocation
Shares of Naver jumped over 12% in early Monday trading after the South Korean internet giant announced in a filing a 1.48 trillion won ($1 billion) new share issuance to Nvidia.
Nvidia also announced Friday a partnership with Naver and Canada’s Brookfield to expand South Korea’s national AI factory infrastructure, alongside its investment into Naver.
—Jenny Lee
Asia-Pacific markets open higher
Asia-Pacific markets traded higher early Monday, amid lower oil prices as Mideast hostilities cooled.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.24% while the Topix rose 0.60%. The Kospi advanced 0.44%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 1.49% higher.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.97%.
—Justina Lee
Asia-Pacific markets set to open higher on tempered Mideast hostilities
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Monday, as oil prices declined following a pause in hostilities in the Middle East.
Chicago futurs for Japan’s Nikkei 225 were at 65,590 compared with the index’s previous close of 64,611.15, signaling a sharply higher open for the index.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were last at 25,020, higher than the index’s Friday close of 24,963.23.
In Australia, futures last traded at 8,766, while the S&P/ASX 200′s closed at 8,772.30.
Oil prices dropped nearly 5% after Iran said it will stop attacks if the U.S. halts them, signaling de-escalation after nearly two weeks of increasing hostilities.
—Justina Lee
Ukraine strikes Iranian vessels in Caspian Sea
Iran summoned a Ukrainian diplomat in Tehran on Sunday to protest an attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, as the war in the Middle East threatened to overlap with the Ukraine conflict.
Iran said the attack left one sailor dead and injured several others. The country’s foreign ministry complained to Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran early on Sunday and “conveyed Iran’s strong protest over the ‘hostile and criminal act.'” Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
In a post on X highlighting Ukraine’s attacks on distant Russian targets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that his country’s forces “also achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.”
— Azhar Sukri
Stock futures open higher
Stock futures opened higher Sunday night.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 294 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.7% and 1.2%, respectively.
— Sarah Min
