☕️ [Task Coins Giveaway] Daily Market Talk — Nvidia Bets $250B on OpenAI as Oil Tumbles Toward $90

A blockbuster weekend for the AI trade. Nvidia (NVDA) is in talks to backstop about $250B of financing for an OpenAI mega data-centre and took a roughly 4.5% stake in Korea's NAVER, which jumped around 20% pre-market. At the same time the war premium is unwinding: after the US and Iran paused their strikes, Brent oil is tumbling back toward $90 from above $100, and US futures point sharply higher into a heavy week of Fed and Big Tech earnings. Let's dig in 👇

💬 With oil unwinding and risk-on back, are you chasing the rebound or fading it before the Fed?

📊 Quick Recap — What Moved & Why

🇺🇸 US — Nvidia's Mega-Bet, Intel Round-Trips

🔑 Key Event: The AI-infrastructure story got a lot bigger over the weekend. Nvidia (NVDA) is reportedly in talks to guarantee about $250B of financing so OpenAI can lease a 10-gigawatt data centre, a project that could ultimately top $500B, and separately took a roughly 4.5% stake in Korea's NAVER for about $1B, sending NAVER up around 20% in Monday pre-market. Crucially it is a backstop, not a direct investment, meant to lower OpenAI's borrowing costs. Friday's cash session had been mixed, with the S&P 500 up 0.1% to 7,411.98 and the Dow up 0.5% to 51,947.25 but the Nasdaq slipping 0.6% to 24,975.82, as Intel (INTC) round-tripped its post-earnings pop to close down 7.9% at $92.32 on profit-taking after a huge 12-month run. Futures now point higher, with Nasdaq futures up about 1.4%, as the risk premium fades.

👀 Other to Watch

American Express (AXP) about -5.6% → a Q2 EPS beat ($4.53) was overshadowed by a slight revenue miss and unchanged full-year guidance.
SpaceX (SPCX) around $115 → space stocks sold off Friday and SPCX now sits roughly 50% below its June high, even as its first post-IPO Starship test flight on Thursday went largely to plan, deploying 20 Starlink satellites.
Super Micro (SMCI) → flagged a record order backlog above $60B for fiscal Q4, capping a strong week for the AI-server maker.
Verizon (VZ) & Schlumberger (SLB) → both beat on Q2; Verizon raised its full-year profit guidance and signed a $1B-plus fibre and AI deal with Google.

🇸🇬 Singapore — MAS Surprises With a Tightening

🔑 Key Event: The local highlight is policy. In its quarterly statement on Monday, the MAS unexpectedly tightened, nudging up the slope of its S$NEER policy band for a second straight time, a smaller move than April and with the band's width and midpoint unchanged, a surprise given most economists had expected a hold. The central bank sees core inflation picking up from the second half of 2026. The STI held near its record at around 5,590 after closing Friday at 5,588.34, with lower oil a net positive for energy-importing Singapore.

👀 Other to Watch

DBS (D05) · OCBC (O39) · UOB (U11) → the big three sit near record highs, with Q2 results due Aug 6 for DBS and Aug 7 for OCBC and UOB.
Oil-sensitive names → cheaper crude eases costs for airlines and transport but removes a tailwind for offshore and marine plays.
Macro → with MAS tightening slightly even as oil falls, the inflation debate stays live into the second half.

🇭🇰 HK/China — Rebounds With the Risk-On, Ctrip Fined

🔑 Key Event: Hong Kong opened lower but reversed higher through the morning, tracking the rebound in US futures. The HSI was up about 0.9% to around 25,190 by mid-morning and the Hang Seng TECH climbed about 1.7%, as internet and chip names led while only the oil majors lagged on the crude drop, a mirror image of Friday's tech-led weakness.

👀 Other to Watch

Alibaba (9988.HK) & SMIC (0981.HK) → Alibaba led the majors up about 3% and SMIC rose around 3%, while Tencent (0700.HK) was roughly flat and Meituan (3690.HK) and Baidu (9888.HK) lagged; oil names CNOOC (0883.HK), PetroChina (0857.HK) and Sinopec (0386.HK) fell with crude.
Trip.com (9961.HK) → China's market regulator fined it RMB 5.18B on Friday for abusing its dominance in online hotel booking, the largest such penalty since Alibaba in 2021.
SHEIN → the fast-fashion giant cleared its HKEX listing hearing and is lining up a Hong Kong IPO at a reported US$40-50B valuation, roughly half its earlier ambition.
Zhongji Innolight (300308.SZ) → its roughly US$7B Hong Kong listing closes subscription today, prices Jul 28 and debuts Jul 30, set to be the city's biggest IPO since 2019.
Anker (00668.HK) → its Hong Kong shares join Southbound Stock Connect today, opening the H-line to mainland buyers.

🌍 Other

Oil → Brent is tumbling back toward $90, down about 5-6% on Monday after the US and Iran paused their strikes over the weekend, though talks are ongoing rather than a formal ceasefire; it had settled Friday at $96.28 after weeks above $100, and WTI fell toward the mid-$80s.
NAVER & Korea → Nvidia's stake lifted NAVER about 20%, while Korea's National Pension Service turned net buyer for the first time this year and loaded up on SK Hynix, whose Q2 operating profit is expected to hit a record when it reports Wednesday.
Tariffs → new US tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on roughly 60 partners, covering about 99.4% of imports, took effect late last week, with fuel, food and USMCA goods exempt.
Rates → the Fed decides Wednesday and is expected to hold at 3.50-3.75% for a fifth straight meeting.

📅 Key Events This Week

🇸🇬 MAS quarterly monetary policy statement · today, Mon Jul 27 (slight tightening)
🇺🇸 June durable goods orders · today, Mon Jul 27
🇺🇸 FOMC decision · Wed Jul 29 (hold expected, 3.50-3.75%)
🇺🇸 Big Tech Q2 earnings · Microsoft (MSFT) & Meta (META) Wed Jul 29; Apple (AAPL) & Amazon (AMZN) Thu Jul 30
🇰🇷 SK Hynix Q2 results · Wed Jul 29
🇭🇰 Zhongji Innolight (300308.SZ) HK IPO · prices Jul 28, debuts Jul 30
🇺🇸 Q2 GDP advance & June PCE · Thu Jul 30
🌍 US-Iran strikes paused, talks ongoing · watch oil

👇 Drop your take (20+ words) & click "Repost" to earn 288 Task Coins ✨

🚫 No duplicates ⏰ Deadline: July 27, 2026, 11:59 PM SGT

Not investment advice, just market talk 🙏