Top Stories This Morning: Oil Prices Surpass $96, CXMT's Record-Breaking IPO, and Big Tech Earnings Reports

Oil prices rose following an attack on a tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia and new threats by Donald Trump to strike Iran’s infrastructure in response to attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Ahead of the record-breaking IPO of Chinese memory manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies, crypto traders valued the company at approximately $425 billion—higher than the market capitalization of China’s largest publicly traded company. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of July 23.

Oil prices rose on Thursday after an unidentified projectile struck an oil tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia, causing a fire on board, according to CNBC. Against this backdrop, Brent rose 2.1% to $96.06 per barrel, while WTI rose 1.6% to $88.2. Prices received additional support from new threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to strike Iran’s infrastructure in response to any attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump stated that the U.S. would destroy a bridge or a power plant after every Iranian attack on ships in the strait. Tehran threatened retaliatory strikes against regional infrastructure and energy facilities linked to the U.S. HSBC noted that the price increase reflects concerns about the safety of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz following the breakdown of the truce between the U.S. and Iran, and that further market dynamics will depend on whether shipping can be restored through diplomatic channels.

Alphabet exceeded market expectations for revenue and profit in the second quarter: revenue rose to $119.8 billion, while Google Cloud’s revenue increased 82% year-over-year to $24.77 billion, according to CNBC. The company also raised its capital expenditure forecast for 2026 to $195–205 billion, up from the previous range of $180–190 billion, which exceeded analysts’ expectations.

Following the release of its earnings report, Alphabet’s stock fell more than 2% in after-hours trading. Investors were concerned about the continued rise in spending on AI infrastructure, despite strong demand for cloud services and a record backlog of contracts totaling $514 billion. Bloomberg also reported a delay in the launch of the Gemini 3.5 Pro model, but Google stated that it continues to actively test new models and is bringing them to market quickly.

IBM fell short of analysts’ expectations for revenue and earnings in the second quarter: revenue rose 1% year-over-year to $17.16 billion, and adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.93, according to CNBC. The company also lowered its revenue growth forecast for 2026 to 4–5% in constant currency, down from the more than 5% previously expected.

The main reason for the forecast revision was a weaker-than-expected decline in sales of the Z-series servers—one of IBM’s key products for enterprise customers—as well as transaction processing software. At the same time, IBM stated that it expects to improve profitability through productivity gains resulting from the implementation of AI, the automation of software development, and the optimization of supply chains.

In the second quarter, Tesla increased its revenue by 26% year-over-year to $28.24 billion, exceeding analysts’ forecasts; however, adjusted earnings per share fell short of expectations at $0.33 versus $0.50, according to Yahoo Finance. Following the release of the earnings report, the company’s stock lost more than 3% in after-hours trading.

The company announced that production of the Optimus humanoid robots is scheduled to begin by the end of the year, and that its robotaxi service is already operating in seven major U.S. cities. Tesla also stated that it will continue to increase investment in AI infrastructure, Optimus production, and Cybercab: capital expenditures this year will exceed $25 billion, and Elon Musk has called 2026 a year of “massive investment.”

Crypto traders have valued ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s largest memory chip manufacturer, at approximately $425 billion through perpetual futures on the Hyperliquid platform—a figure higher than the market capitalization of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest publicly traded company in mainland China, according to CNBC. However, for its IPO in Shanghai, scheduled for Monday, the company was initially valued at 579 billion yuan.

Analysts note that such a high valuation reflects not so much the company’s fundamental value as investors’ limited access to the offering and expectations of a strong debut. Once trading begins, the price of the crypto contract will be pegged to the market value of the shares, and the gap between them will likely narrow quickly, the TV channel reports.

Uber has laid off about 10% of its customer support staff, citing a desire to streamline its organizational structure and accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence, according to Bloomberg. The company has also required some remote employees to return to the office as part of its policy to resume in-person work.

Uber stated that its current structure has become too complex and is hindering the large-scale implementation of AI. This is the second round of layoffs in less than two months: the company previously laid off 23% of its HR department. At the same time, Uber continues to hire specialists, including engineers to develop its robotaxi projects.

— Japan's broad-based Topix index rose 0.6%, while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.7%.

— Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3%, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index fell 0.2%.

— In South Korea, the KOSPI rose 3.9%, and the KOSDAQ rose 3.3%.

— Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%.

— Futures on the Nasdaq Composite, the S&P 500, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor