{"id":65443,"date":"2026-07-26T21:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T01:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asia-markets-rally-as-oil-slumps-on-middle-east-de-escalation-cxmt-debuts-in-record-ipo\/65443\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T21:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T01:38:15","slug":"asia-markets-rally-as-oil-slumps-on-middle-east-de-escalation-cxmt-debuts-in-record-ipo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asia-markets-rally-as-oil-slumps-on-middle-east-de-escalation-cxmt-debuts-in-record-ipo\/65443\/","title":{"rendered":"Asia Markets Rally as Oil Slumps on Middle East De-escalation; CXMT Debuts in Record IPO"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">Oil prices<\/a> plunged over 5%<\/strong> as a weekend pause in fighting between the <strong>U.S.<\/strong> and <strong>Iran<\/strong> eased supply disruption fears, with Brent crude falling toward <strong>$91 per barrel<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT)<\/strong> made a historic debut on Shanghai&#39;s STAR Market, with shares expected to jump roughly <strong>470%<\/strong> from an IPO price of <strong>8.66 yuan<\/strong>, valuing the chipmaker near <strong>3.3 trillion yuan<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>China&#39;s industrial profits<\/strong> rose <strong>15.1% year-on-year in June<\/strong>, a slowdown from the previous month&#39;s <strong>21.1%<\/strong>, while year-to-date growth remained steady at <strong>18.7%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Beijing launched a major tax crackdown<\/strong> on offshore trusts, imposing a <strong>20% personal income tax<\/strong> on assets held in hubs like <strong>Hong Kong<\/strong> to close long-standing wealth-evasion loopholes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alphabet (<a href=\"\/stock\/GOOGL\">GOOGL<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>CSX (<a href=\"\/stock\/CSX\">CSX<\/a>)<\/strong> signaled a shift in corporate strategy by announcing plans to <strong>expand headcount<\/strong>, reversing a long-standing trend of AI-driven hiring freezes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Market Reaction to Middle East De-escalation<\/h2>\n<p>Global energy markets saw a sharp correction Monday morning as the <strong>U.S.<\/strong> and <strong>Iran<\/strong> observed a rare weekend lull in hostilities. <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> futures dropped <strong>$4.89 to $91.89 a barrel<\/strong>, while <strong>U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)<\/strong> fell <strong>5.2% to $84.64<\/strong>. The pause in strikes follows nearly two weeks of consecutive military engagements that had previously pushed prices higher on fears of a total blockade of the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The cooling of geopolitical tensions provided a tailwind for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">Gold<\/a><\/strong>, which gained as inflationary fears moderated, and for Asian equity markets, which rallied on the prospect of lower energy costs. Investors remain cautious, however, as <strong>Yemen&#39;s Houthi rebels<\/strong> reportedly targeted <strong>Saudi Arabian<\/strong> oil installations along the Red Sea, maintaining a high risk premium in the region.<\/p>\n<h2>CXMT&#39;s Blockbuster Shanghai Debut<\/h2>\n<p>China\u2019s premier DRAM manufacturer, <strong>ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT)<\/strong>, officially listed on the <strong>Shanghai Stock Exchange\u2019s STAR Market<\/strong> today in Asia&#39;s largest IPO of 2026. Shares were expected to open near <strong>49.5 yuan<\/strong>, a massive surge from the <strong>8.66 yuan<\/strong> offering price. The listing raised approximately <strong>57.9 billion yuan ($8.6 billion)<\/strong>, providing the firm with critical capital to compete with global leaders like <strong>Samsung<\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/MU\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"20\" title=\"Stock: MU\">Micron<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The debut comes as Beijing intensifies its push for semiconductor self-sufficiency amid ongoing U.S. export restrictions. While institutional demand for the IPO was over <strong>500 times oversubscribed<\/strong>, some analysts warned of a potential liquidity squeeze as retail investors rotate out of other tech names to fund positions in the new chip giant.<\/p>\n<h2>China Economic Data and Tax Reform<\/h2>\n<p>New data from the <strong>National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)<\/strong> showed that <strong>China\u2019s industrial profits<\/strong> grew by <strong>15.1% in June<\/strong>, marking a significant deceleration from the <strong>21.1%<\/strong> growth seen in May. Despite the monthly slowdown, the year-to-date profit growth of <strong>18.7%<\/strong> suggests that upstream commodity producers and high-tech manufacturers continue to benefit from the global AI boom and elevated energy prices.<\/p>\n<p>Simultaneously, the <strong>Ministry of Finance<\/strong> announced a sweeping expansion of tax enforcement targeting <strong>offshore trusts<\/strong>. Effective immediately, wealthy individuals must disclose and pay a <strong>20% tax<\/strong> on gains from assets held in offshore vehicles, including those in <strong>Hong Kong<\/strong>. The move is seen as a critical step by Beijing to shore up fiscal revenue and tighten oversight of private wealth transferred abroad.<\/p>\n<h2>Corporate Hiring and Currency Stability<\/h2>\n<p>In a notable reversal of &quot;AI-era&quot; messaging, major U.S. employers including <strong>Alphabet (<a href=\"\/stock\/GOOGL\">GOOGL<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>CSX (<a href=\"\/stock\/CSX\">CSX<\/a>)<\/strong> have informed investors of plans to accelerate hiring. This shift suggests that the initial wave of AI-driven job displacement may be stabilizing, as firms realize the need for human oversight to manage new technologies. <strong>Alphabet<\/strong> workers recently petitioned for better job security, highlighting the ongoing tension between automation and labor.<\/p>\n<p>On the currency front, the <strong>People&#39;s Bank of China (PBOC)<\/strong> fixed the yuan reference rate at <strong>6.7911<\/strong> against the U.S. dollar, slightly stronger than the previous close. The <strong>Yuan<\/strong> opened higher in early trading, reflecting broader market optimism and a slight softening of the greenback as traders pare back expectations for aggressive <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> rate hikes later this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Oil prices plunged over 5% as a weekend pause in fighting between the U.S. and Iran eased supply [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[16827,970,1327,1947,5142,5214,6032,7859,11784,13492],"class_list":["post-65443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-us-iran","tag-wti","tag-china","tag-oil","tag-pboc","tag-yuan","tag-googl-stock-googl","tag-cxmt","tag-csx-stock-csx","tag-nbs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}