US markets opened higher on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.7% and on track to top its all-time high set at the end of last week, according to Associated Press. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% while the Nasdaq Composite marched 0.9% higher, led by tech stocks including Intel which surged 11% after Bloomberg reported that Apple is in early-stage talks with the chipmaker about US-based chip manufacturing. The rally was driven by easing oil prices and continued strong corporate earnings that lifted investor sentiment across major indices, with stocks getting a boost after oil prices gave back some of their big jumps from Monday. Chipmakers and hardware groups were among the strongest movers, with Intel joined by Micron, Western Digital, Seagate all up over 6%, closely followed by Lam Research, ARM, ASML and AMD to top the Nasdaq 100 risers.
Crude prices retreated significantly, providing relief to equities after recent volatility, as reported by Associated Press. WTI crude futures fell 3.4% to below $103 per barrel, down from $106 yesterday and $110+ last week, with Brent crude dropping 2% to above $111 per barrel despite continued Iranian harassment in the Strait of Hormuz. The pullback comes as a fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to be holding, even after the United Arab Emirates said Monday that Iran fired missiles and drones at it. In a press conference, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth insisted the ceasefire "is not over" but said current activity is "low level." Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine said Iran has attacked vessels nine times and seized two ships since the ceasefire, with around 22,500 mariners still unable to transit the Strait. Hegseth warned that "hundreds of ships" are waiting to pass through with US forces providing protection, warning Iran would face "overwhelming firepower" if it escalates further.
Investor sentiment was significantly boosted by upbeat earnings results, with Pfizer (PFE) up around 2% after its first-quarter earnings and revenue topped consensus, with the pharmaceuticals giant reaffirming its full-year 2026 outlook, according to Associated Press. Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) surged roughly 8%, posting its first quarterly beer volume growth in three years and beating both top and bottom lines. Intel (INTC) was the standout single-stock move, surging around 10% after Bloomberg reported that Apple (AAPL) is in early-stage talks with the chipmaker about US-based chip manufacturing. Micron (MU) gained another 5% as analysts continue to lift price targets on AI-driven high-bandwidth memory demand. Other notable winners included DuPont's stock rallying 8.7% after the chemical giant led another wave of companies reporting better-than-expected profits, and Pinterest soaring 14% after topping Wall Street's first-quarter sales and profit targets as its number of active monthly users jumped 11% to 631 million. However, Palantir Technologies fell 4.5% despite strong earnings, as the data analytics company raised its full-year revenue guidance by nearly $500 million to a range of $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion, with revenue for the three months to March coming in at $1.63 billion, up 85% year on year.
The US stock market has remained remarkably resilient on its record-setting run despite ongoing war tensions, as reported by Associated Press. "This has been a 'why ask why' market,'' according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "You just have to go with it." Even though many risks are still weighing on the market, investors are looking at earnings and how much companies are spending on AI data centers and other investments. Of the 63% of S&P 500 constituents that have announced results so far, 84% have beaten consensus expectations for earnings, while 81% have exceeded revenue forecasts, according to FactSet, with the year-on-year earnings growth rate at 27.1%. This would be the strongest earnings growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2021, when corporations were bouncing back after the Covid disaster. The market's resilience is largely due to the strong profits that US companies have reported for the start of 2026 despite the rise in oil prices since the end of February. However, some stocks faced pressure, with Palantir Technologies falling 3% even though it reported stronger results than analysts expected, as Jefferies flagged concerns that the company's roughly 60% margin profile may point to underinvestment which could constrain its ability to capture commercial opportunities.
In international markets, indexes were mixed in Europe with the CAC 40 rising 0.6% in Paris but the FTSE 100 falling 1.7% in London, according to Associated Press. Many Asian markets were closed for holidays, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.8%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2% after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.35%, saying conflict in the Middle East had sharply increased fuel and commodity prices that were already adding to inflation. In the US bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave back some of Monday's gains and reports on the US economy came in mixed, with one report saying growth for US services businesses unexpectedly decelerated last month, with some companies saying the war is slowing spending. A separate report said US employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of March than economists expected, an encouraging signal for the job market. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.42% from 4.45% late Monday, though that remains well above its 3.97% level from just before the war began. Bitcoin climbed 3% to over $81,000, the highest level in just over three months, with the crypto up 21% over a month.
