US stock indices hovered just below the flatline on Tuesday as investors weighed energy market developments and the risk of a Federal Reserve rate hike later this year. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq 100 all traded slightly lower.
Authorities in Pakistan and Qatar signaled cautious optimism over a potential US–Iran agreement that could restore oil flows through the Persian Gulf. That prospect tempered the rebound in wholesale fuel prices, which had initially been driven by President Trump’s tougher rhetoric on Tehran.
Yields eased, but credit‑sensitive hyperscalers came under pressure, with Oracle, Amazon, and SpaceX each falling more than 2%. Intel extended Monday’s 4% slide with an additional 1.5% decline after increasing the size of its planned stock offering by $5 billion to $20 billion.
By contrast, Nvidia gained 1% after privately raising $500 billion in bank financing to expand AI infrastructure, further increasing leverage across the sector.
Looking ahead, the US will publish its CPI inflation report tomorrow, following comments from several FOMC members flagging the possibility of a rate hike next month. SCMI and CoreWeave are scheduled to report earnings after the close.
