Wall Street Journal Breakfast FM-Radio | March 27, 2026

Good Morning from Huajian

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Market Overview

Ceasefire negotiations between the US and Iran have stalled, risk aversion has reignited, and crude oil surged over 4% at one point. US stocks, US Treasuries, gold, and Bitcoin all declined sharply. After hours, Trump announced a ten-day delay in striking Iran’s energy facilities, causing oil prices to plunge significantly, then rebound. US stock futures surged instantly but later narrowed gains.

At Wednesday’s close, the S&P 500 fell over 1.7%, chip stocks plunged nearly 5%, dragging the Nasdaq down over 2%. Storage stocks continued yesterday’s decline, with SanDisk dropping 11%. Meta tumbled more than 8%, after being held responsible in a social media addiction case the previous day.

The 7-year US Treasury auction was weak. Treasury yields rose across the board, with the 2-year up over 10 basis points, and the 7-year up 9.6 basis points.

The dollar initially rose 0.35%, then sharply fell back near yesterday’s close. Bitcoin dropped over 4%, breaking below $69,000. Ethereum declined nearly 6%.

After hours, WTI crude futures plummeted from $94.39 to $89.51, hitting the daily low. Brent crude futures briefly dropped from $107.58 to near $103, with intraday gains sharply narrowing. Spot gold rose from around $4,350 to $4,415.65, narrowing the daily loss to 2.3%; spot silver rebounded from around $67 to $69, still down over 3% for the day.

During Asian trading hours, AH stocks collectively declined in the afternoon! The Shanghai Composite again fell below 3,900 points, with the lithium battery industry chain surging. Hengke Index dropped over 3%, Kuaishou plunged over 14%, and Shanghai gold fell below 1,000 yuan.

Top News

China

Will Trump visit China on May 14-15? Ministry of Foreign Affairs: China and the US are maintaining communication on this matter.

Minister Wang Wentao met with US Trade Representative Grier.

Meituan’s huge profit turn to loss! After adjustments, net loss in 2025 is 18.6 billion yuan, with core local business loss of 6.9 billion yuan. Conference call: “Resolutely oppose internal competition,” “Not rushing to become a ‘token’ factory,” Keeta’s profitability in Saudi Arabia is expected.

SMIC’s 2025 revenue hits a record high of 16%, net profit surges 39%, monthly capacity exceeds 1 million wafers.

Muxi shares’ 2025 revenue soars 1.2 times year-over-year, net loss narrows to 790 million yuan, GPU sales exceed 55,000 units.

State Administration for Market Regulation held the first fair competition symposium for 2026, with CATL, BYD, Meituan and others attending.

Overseas

Trump delays strike on Iran’s energy facilities by ten days, deadline extended to April 6, claiming US-Iran talks are “very smooth.” Trump: The strike is postponed until 8 pm EDT on April 6 at Iran’s request; negotiations are ongoing, progress is “very smooth,” contrary to fake news reports. WTI crude oil once rose nearly 6% during the day but then turned down. This is the second delay after Trump threatened attack last Saturday, initially giving 48 hours, then extending to this Friday.

Trump: I don’t know if US and Iran can reach an agreement, I’m not in a hurry. Iran allows ten oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; market reactions to conflict were not as intense as expected. US media: The US is formulating a “lethal strike” military plan against Iran, possibly including ground troops and large-scale bombing. Iran says it is ready to respond to US “suicide missions” to open the Strait of Hormuz, with over a million people organized for ground combat. Iran responded via intermediaries to the US’s 15-point ceasefire proposal, with clear preconditions. Iran: China, Russia, Pakistan, Iraq, India, Bangladesh and others’ ships have safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Landmark vote! Trump’s “backyard on fire”: Democrats won the Florida district where Mar-a-Lago is located.

To save the yen, Japan considers “going off-script”: directly short crude oil futures with $1.4 trillion in forex reserves.

Iran situation impacts US Treasuries; third weak auction this week, US debt declines further.

Major shift by gold buyers: Turkey’s central bank sold $8 billion worth of gold during Iran war.

SEC questions rating agencies’ integrity; private credit “blame game” begins.

Musk releases latest Optimus video, aiming to start production this summer, targeting 1 million units by 2027. Tesla pre-sets Q1 delivery target at about 366,000 units; next week’s earnings report is upcoming.

Market Close

US and European stocks: S&P 500 down 1.74%, at 6,477.16 points. Dow Jones down 1.01%, at 45,960.11 points. Nasdaq down 2.38%, at 21,408.08 points. Europe’s STOXX 600 index closed down 1.13%, at 580.84 points.

A-shares: Shanghai Composite closed at 3,889.08, down 1.09%. Shenzhen Component at 13,606.44, down 1.41%. ChiNext at 3,272.49, down 1.34%.

Bond Market: US 10-year benchmark yields rose 7.95 basis points to 4.4117%. 2-year yields up 10.05 basis points to 3.9858%.

Commodities: After hours, WTI crude futures plunged from $94.39 to $89.51. Brent crude futures briefly dropped from $107.58 to near $103, with intraday gains sharply narrowing. Spot gold rose from around $4,350 to $4,415.65, narrowing the daily loss to 2.3%; spot silver rebounded from around $67 to $69, still down over 3% for the day.

Detailed News

Global Highlights

China

Will Trump visit China on May 14-15? Ministry of Foreign Affairs: China and the US are maintaining communication on this matter. Lin Jian said that summit diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic leading role in China-US relations. Both sides are in contact regarding Trump’s visit.

Minister Wang Wentao met with US Trade Representative Grier. Wang emphasized that China is willing to strengthen multilateral and regional economic cooperation with the US, jointly promote WTO reform, and achieve practical results at the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference. Wang also expressed serious concern over US investigations under the so-called “overcapacity” and “forced labor” import bans, including initiating Section 301 investigations against multiple economies including China.

Huge profit turn to loss! Meituan’s 2025 net loss after adjustments is 18.6 billion yuan, with core local business loss of 6.9 billion yuan. Conference call: “Firmly oppose internal competition,” “Not rushing to become a ‘token’ factory,” Keeta’s profitability in Saudi Arabia is expected.

• Meituan’s 2025 turns from profit to loss, with total revenue of 3,649 billion yuan, up 8.1% YoY; net loss of 23.4 billion yuan, a sharp reversal from 35.8 billion profit last year. Core local business profit margin plummeted from 20.9% to -2.6%, with a loss of 6.9 billion yuan. Sales and marketing expenses surged 60.9% to over 100 billion yuan, nearly doubling promotional incentives.
• CEO Wang Xing explicitly states “resolutely oppose internal competition,” will actively exit low-efficiency price wars. Fully embracing AI, Meituan has launched “Xiao Tuan” AI assistant for all users, aiming to build a “super AI gateway” for local life services. For overseas expansion, Saudi market is expected to turn profitable in the first month of this year; company guidance indicates new businesses in 2026 will not be more loss-making than last year.

Morgan Stanley comments on Meituan’s performance: no surprises, core focus remains on market share and profit margin recovery. Q4 revenue grew 4%, in line with expectations; core local business losses narrowed by $4.1 billion QoQ; profit margin improved by 5.4 percentage points, the biggest highlight this quarter; but new overseas investments caused a 264% QoQ increase in losses. Morgan Stanley maintains an overweight rating with a target price of HKD 120; the pace of market share and profit margin recovery remains key to valuation trends.

SMIC’s 2025 revenue hits a record high of $9.327 billion, net profit surges 39%, monthly capacity exceeds 1 million wafers. SMIC’s 2025 revenue and profit both set records: $9.327 billion and $685 million respectively. Monthly capacity surpasses 1 million wafers, utilization rate rises to 93.5%, boosting gross margin. The company remains the world’s second-largest foundry, advancing the integration and capital increase of SMIC North and South; guidance for 2026 sales growth is above industry average, with capital expenditure roughly equal to 2025.

Muxi shares’ 2025 revenue soars 1.2 times YoY, net loss narrows to 790 million yuan, GPU sales exceed 55,000 units. Under the background of accelerated domestic AI center construction and rising demand for domestic computing power, Muxi’s full-year revenue reached 1.644 billion yuan, up 121.26% YoY. Losses also improved significantly, with net loss of 789 million yuan, down 43.97%; net loss after non-recurring gains and losses was 830 million yuan, down 20.52%.

The State Administration for Market Regulation held the first fair competition symposium for 2026, with CATL, BYD, Meituan and others attending. The authority will strengthen anti-monopoly enforcement, corporate compliance guidance, crack down on “internal competition,” deepen institutional openness in competition, and support companies in expanding international markets and achieving high-quality development.

Overseas

Trump delays strike on Iran’s energy facilities by ten days, deadline extended to April 6, claiming US-Iran talks are “very smooth.” Trump: The strike is postponed until 8 pm EDT on April 6 at Iran’s request; negotiations are ongoing, progress is “very smooth,” contrary to fake news reports. WTI crude oil once rose nearly 6% during the day but then turned down. This is the second delay after Trump threatened attack last Saturday, initially giving 48 hours, then extending to this Friday.

Trump: I don’t know if US and Iran can reach an agreement, I’m not in a hurry. Iran allows ten oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; market reactions to conflict were not as intense as expected. During cabinet meeting, Trump said Iran “begs for an agreement,” I don’t care, I don’t know if we can or want to do it; if a “proper agreement” is reached, the Strait of Hormuz will open, but it’s unclear if there are mines. Iran sent “big gift”: initially said eight ships would pass, then two more followed. Controlling Iran’s oil is “an option.” If Iran refuses to give up nuclear weapons, US “will be their worst nightmare.” The president’s special envoy confirmed Pakistan acts as a US-Iran intermediary, saying the US’s 15-point framework has shown positive signals; Defense Secretary said negotiations are “talk