US equity futures were little changed on Tuesday, consolidating gains from the previous session amid easing corporate borrowing costs and renewed optimism about returns from AI agents. Futures on the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq 100 were flat, with the S&P and Dow trading within 0.5% of their record highs. Premarket trading pointed to broadly higher stocks as oil and fuel prices declined for a fifth straight session, following signs that Iran, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and the US may pursue diplomatic efforts to restore some oil trade in the Persian Gulf—developments that helped curb this month’s surge in bond yields.
AI hyperscalers, which have issued record amounts of corporate debt despite elevated financing costs, advanced, with Microsoft, Oracle, and Alphabet each gaining about 1%. Banks and industrials also moved higher. By contrast, chipmakers edged lower but held most of Monday’s strong gains, supported by favorable market reaction to Meta’s Muse AI agent. AMD, Micron, and Intel slipped around 1%.
