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The S&P 500 rose on Tuesday as enthusiasm surrounding chipmakers led traders to move into the names for another day. Investors also monitored a slide in oil prices and parsed through a slew of corporate earnings as the Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting.
The broad market index was up 0.6% to end at 7,722.60, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 15.99 points, or 0.03%, to close at 52,377.57. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.18% to settle at 26,477.81.
Shares of Broadcom climbed 4% on the heels of a coalition of banks — namely, Bank of America, Citi and Morgan Stanley — and Blackstone announcing $63 billion in financing for the purchase of Broadcom's technology for Anthropic. Other chipmakers rose in sympathy. Micron Technology was up almost 3%, while Advanced Micro Devices gained 5%.
The latest moves in those stocks add to their gains from the prior trading day, which saw the major averages record a winning session, thanks in part to a boost in artificial intelligence-related stocks after Anthropic filed to go public at the Nasdaq. This would mark another major tech IPO for 2026, following SpaceX's blockbuster listing in June.
"The market has these kind of periodic interludes where it gets concerned about AI spending, and then we tend to go back and tech leads us higher," said Jed Ellerbroek, Argent Capital Management portfolio manager. "The light switch has been off for the last two weeks, and it looks like the first two days this week, the switch has been flipped up again."
Despite those recent concerns, Ellerbroek still sees "great" conviction from companies that own data centers to continue to grow. "The potential crack in the foundation remains just how volatile capital markets can be," he added.
A decline in oil prices also supported sentiment Tuesday. The moves came after Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and his top national security official Mohsen Rezaei discussed the country's conditions for ending the conflict. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures settled down 1.83% to $99.90 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent crude futures shed 1.67% to close at $113.88 a barrel.
Meanwhile, JetBlue jumped 19% despite the airline posting a larger-than-expected third-quarter loss, as the company said it expects to see further margin expansion in the fourth quarter. UPS shares added more than 5% after the delivery giant reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter.
The Fed is set to deliver its rate policy decision on Wednesday afternoon. While the central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged, traders will look for clues on whether another rate hike will take place before year-end.
"This feels like a rare Fed meeting non-event under Warsh. It feels like his communication strategy is going to result in fewer of these no-surprise meetings, but it it does look like we're going to get one here, mostly because the midterm election is next week," Ellerbroek also said. "I assume that next meeting in December is going to be another kind of live wire."
The three major averages ended higher on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 7,722.60, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.18% to 26,477.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added just 15.99 points, or 0.03%, to 52,377.57.
Bank of America has added SpaceX and Fox Corporation to its U.S. 1 list, which is a collection of the firm's top buy-rated stocks.
SpaceX shares were up nearly 1.2% and shares for Fox Corp were slightly higher on Tuesday morning following the firm's note.
The firm has removed RenaissanceRe Holdings from the US 1 List but maintains the company's buy rating.
Shares of steel producer Nucor are advancing more than 6% Tuesday on the back of a solid third quarter delivered on Monday. The stock is now up 67% year-to-date.
"The demand drivers in the steel-centric side of our economy are booming," Nucor CEO Leon Topalian told CNBC Tuesday, citing strong steel demand from data centers, pharma and natural gas.
The company's revenue of $11.25 billion was well ahead of the estimated $10.84 billion, according to FactSet. Its earnings per share of $5.80 came in ahead of the company's guidance of $5.55-$5.65 but slightly below FactSet's $5.84.
Still, Topalian noted, the company's "demand drivers are stronger than any time I've seen in my 31 years at Nucor."
General Motors will have a new home on the Nasdaq starting Nov. 17. The automaker decided to transfer shares of its common stock from the New York Stock Exchange as part of its shift to becoming a more technology-focused company.
"GM's customer-focused, technology-driven strategy is creating value for our stockholders, making Nasdaq a natural home for our listing as we grow," GM CFO Paul Jacobson said in a release.
The exchange switch will make it eligible for potential inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 Index, the company noted. Its ticker symbol is expected to remain GM.
Shares of Constellation Energy are up more than 2% after the Department of Energy offered a $5 billion conditional loan to help upgrade several of the company's nuclear plants.
The loans will help modernize several Constellation plants in Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The upgrades will squeeze more than a gigawatt of additional electricity out of existing reactors, according to the Department of Energy.
Constellation and Alphabet's Google unit struck a deal earlier this month to modernize 11 nuclear plants in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Those upgrades will bring 890 megawatts of additional capacity.
Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG, is saying to fade the chip bounce in the artificial intelligence trade.
In October presentation notes, he drew comparisons between current conditions in the SOX semiconductor index and large past down legs.
Looking at times when the index has moved down by 5% following an upward movement of the same magnitude, as the SOX has done recently, Krinsky noted that this phenomenon has only occurred a handful of times over the past 30 years.
"There have only been four prior occurrences. Three were in July – Sep. '95, and one was March 17th, 2000. The former led to a - 53% drawdown while the latter was the dead peak of the dot-com bubble top leading to a -83% decline," he wrote.
Consumer confidence improved in October as gasoline prices moved lower and the outlook for employment brightened a bit, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The Conference Board's monthly indicator posted a reading of 91.7, up 7.5 points from September and better than the forecast for 81 from the Dow Jones consensus. Indexes measuring the present situation and expectations also saw gains.
"The recovery was in line with retail gasoline prices easing from September to October. Yet, despite the increase in October, consumer confidence remained on the long-term downward trend that's persisted over the past few years," said Fergus McCormick, the board's senior economist for global indicators.
Gas prices are off nearly 20 cents a gallon from their late-September readings, according to the Energy Information Administration.
On employment, the gap between respondents indicating that jobs are "plentiful" against "hard to get" narrowed by 2.4 percentage points to 5.3 points.
Stephens is initiating coverage on Mama's Creations with an overweight rating.
The firm put a $19 price target for the company, implying a 55% upside from Monday's close.
"MAMA has evolved from a single-brand meatball company into a scaled deli solutions platform, with three manufacturing facilities and a portfolio spanning beef, chicken, salads, olives and sides," wrote analyst Jim Salera.
Shares were last up around 3% in late morning trading on Tuesday.
Shares of SoFi Technologies were higher by more than 13% in early trading Tuesday after it reported stronger-than-expected financial results in the third quarter.
Revenue and earnings both beat estimates, according to FactSet, and adjusted EBITDA came in more than $40 million above expectations.
The fintech company raised guidance across all of those metrics for full-year 2026, and it delivered forecasts for 2027 that came in higher than estimates too.
"We had exceptional Q3 results against the backdrop of any environment," said SoFi CEO Anthony Noto in a news release. "But they are even more remarkable given how 2026 has unfolded."
A new $10 billion venture fund is aiming to capitalize on the growing security and defense requirements being propelled by artificial intelligence systems.
Disruptive Technology Advisers, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, will back "category-leading private technology companies," the company said in a release. The name of the fund is the Disruptive Flagship Fund.
The LLC, which was founded in 2012, foresees a "new era of investment in defense and national security" businesses, creating "companies of unprecedented scale and strategic importance."
"The firm has developed an investment model designed to identify a small number of exceptional companies and deploy significant capital behind them," Disruptive Technology Advisers said in a statement. The new fund will deploy up to $1 billion per company.
AI has made explicit forays into sensitive fields including cryptology, leading to consternation among mathematicians, though the security implications and resulting commercial possibilities are likely more widely ranging.
The three major averages moved higher shortly after the opening bell on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74 points, or 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5%.
Demand for long-lasting goods such as airplanes, defense equipment and household appliances rose sharply in September, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Durable goods orders increased 1.8% for the period, up from a 0.1% increase in August and slightly better than the 1.7% consensus forecast from Dow Jones. Excluding transportation, orders increased 0.5%, while they jumped 2.2% when excluding defense.
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
Shares of Boeing rose nearly 1% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the company's third-quarter revenue beat analysts' expectations.
For the quarter, Boeing posted revenue of $24.19 billion, above the $23.84 billion that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting.
However, the company reported an adjusted loss of 34 cents per share versus the loss per share of 21 cents that analysts were anticipating.
UPS traded 1.3% higher after the delivery and logistics giant reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter.
The company earned an adjusted $1.69 per share on revenue of $22.9 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $1.63 per share on revenue of $22.29 billion.
UPS also hiked its full-year revenue guidance.
In-store inflation rose to its highest level in over two years this month, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday.
Shop price inflation reached 2.1% on an annual basis during Oct. 1 and Oct. 7, the BRC's figures showed, led by food inflation, which rose to 2.9%.
"The dam is starting to break on the huge wave of costs retailers have absorbed over the last two years," Helen Dickinson, CEO of the organization, said in a statement.
"The message to the Chancellor ahead of tomorrow's Budget could not be clearer: act now or prices will keep on rising," she added. "Without a change of course, October's jump in inflation is only the beginning."
U.K. finance minister John Healey is set to deliver his first Autumn Budget to parliament on Wednesday. The BRC is calling on the government to cut employment costs, reduce taxes on business premises and cut other duties imposed on shops.
French statistics agency Insee said Tuesday that consumer confidence had deteriorated significantly in October amid public unrest, rioting and demonstrations, falling to its lowest level since June 2013.
Optimism toward the future standard of living had seen a "clear downturn," Insee said, with an increase in fears about unemployment.
France is currently in the midst of a political crisis, as it seeks to simultaneously slash its national deficit and appease protesters whose demands for government investment in education and cost-of-living support have led to nationwide riots, looting and unrest.
Insee's survey polled 2,000 households between Sept. 25 and Oct. 19. Protests have continued since the survey closed, with further unrest expected in the coming weeks.
Mercedes-Benz shares fell in early European trading after the German carmaker cut its annual profit margin outlook on weakness in the Chinese market and higher costs.
The group now expects an adjusted return on sales of 2% to 3% in 2026, down from its previous guidance of 3% to 5%.
HSBC's London-listed shares dropped 6.5% in early European deals Monday, putting them on course for the worst session since Apr. 3 2025, after the lender reported a slight miss on consensus expectations for pre-tax profit and revenue in the third quarter.
Europe's largest bank also announced a share buyback of up to $1 billion.
Citi analysts called it a "mixed set of results," noting a 2% miss on revenue expectations but an 18.8% return on tangible equity in the year to date, significantly ahead of its medium-term guidance of around 17%.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.27% shortly after 8:07 a.m. in London (4:07 a.m. E.T.) as the continent's major bourses and regional sector opened the session in mostly negative territory.
Basic resources led gains, rising 0.68%, followed by media stocks, which added 0.25%, and healthcare names, which advanced 0.38%.
Banks led losses, tumbling 1.18% in early dealmaking, with utilities down 0.39% and household goods shedding 0.21%.
The U.K. FTSE 100's was 0.93% lower in London, while in Paris, France's CAC 40 was 0.28% lower. In Frankfurt, Germany's DAX slipped 0.17%, and the Italian FTSE MIB was down by 0.29% in Milan.
Novartis hiked its profit outlook early Tuesday, as the Swiss drugmaker said it achieved sales growth despite a challenging backdrop of generic competition.
It now expects core operating income for 2026 to grow in line with the low single digits, up from previous expectations of a small decline.
It comes as the company posted third-quarter sales largely in line with FactSet expectations of $14.5 billion, up 4% year-on-year.
Novartis took a $1.9 billion hit from a partial impairment of its del-desiran drug for muscle-wasting disorder in the quarter, resulting in reported operating income declining by 61% in constant currencies. On an adjusted basis, operating income grew 10%, beating analysts' expectations.
The results follow a trio of clinical setbacks Novartis posted last month, sending shares to their worst day in six years and raising investor questions about its acquisition strategy. It included the failure of del-desiran in a late-stage trial, an asset Novartis bought through its $12 billion acquisition of Avidity Biosciences earlier this year.
"You have to stay courageous and really push to really find breakthroughs if you're going to grow a company of our size," CEO Vas Narasimhan told CNBC Tuesday.
Luxury German carmaker Porsche said Tuesday that its profit rose in the first nine months of the year after undergoing restructuring, amid struggles in the Chinese market.
The Volkswagen-owned company said operating profit rose to 1.74 billion euros ($1.94 billion) in the first nine months, a jump from 40 million euros the previous year. Meanwhile, sales revenue was down 5.9% to 25.28 billion euros, while deliveries declined 16% to 178, 532.
Porsche said the market environment in China "remains challenging," as it battles with weaker demand in the region in recent years due to increased localized competition.
The company announced plans to reduce its total workforce by 25% by 2035, while reducing management by 40% as part of its cash-saving strategy.
"Even in a challenging market environment, Porsche is showing itself to be financially robust," Dr Jochen Breckner, a member of the executive board for finance and IT, said in the report. "We achieved a solid operating result in the first nine months while simultaneously generating strong net cash flow.
"This, combined with our robust balance sheet, gives us the strength we need to consistently continue on our chosen path."
Brent crude futures for December delivery — the global price benchmark — were trading just above the flatline shortly after 3:05 a.m. E.T., at $115.84 per barrel.
West Texas Intermediate futures for December delivery, a snapshot of U.S. oil prices, dropped almost 0.1% to $101.65 a barrel.
The choppy direction in oil prices follows talks between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Iranian officials on Monday, aimed at keeping diplomatic channels open, as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to mull a step-up in military operations against Tehran as the conflict enters its ninth month.
Stock markets in Europe are set to start Tuesday session in the red, with Stoxx 50 futures seen 0.32% lower ahead of the market open.
France's CAC 40 was 0.28% lower, with Germany's DAX set to start the day down 0.35%, and the Italian FTSE MIB off by 0.37%.
Meanwhile, U.K. FTSE 100 futures were 0.51% lower.
Europe's largest bank HSBC on Tuesday reported third-quarter pretax profit that largely met analysts' estimates complied by the lender, and announced a share buyback of up to $1 billion by the end of this year.
Revenue at HSBC rose to $18.6 billion from $17.8 billion in the same period last year, while banking net interest income rose 6%, alongside the bank clocking higher fee income form its corporate and institutional banking and wealth business.
The bank approved a third interim divided of 10 cents per share.
The earnings come as HSBC is reportedly considering significant job cuts in its U.K. wealth management business, as part of a broader push to adopt artificial intelligence.
China's industrial profits last month grew at their strongest pace since June, as a boom in manufacturing tied to artificial intelligence offset drag from persistently weak domestic demand.
Profits at large industrial firms rose 14.4% in September from a year earlier, official data released Tuesday showed. For the first nine months of this year, industrial profits climbed 15.5%, slightly below the 15.7% rise in the January-September period.
The strength comes as industrial earnings swung to double-digit growth earlier this year, following a modest gain in 2025 and three straight years of declines, helped by Beijing's efforts to curb rampant price wars across sectors and surging demand for AI-related equipment.
The Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar on the Kospi, temporarily halting program trading, as South Korean stocks surged.
A buy-side sidecar is triggered when the Kospi 200 futures index rises 5% or more for at least one minute, stopping trading for 5 minutes.
Asian technology companies rose Tuesday, tracking U.S. tech stocks driven by optimism surrounding the Anthropic IPO filing.
In Japan, SoftBank Group advanced 7.6%, while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron added 3.86%. Advantest surged 8.8%, and Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia gained 2.5%.
In South Korea, SK Hynix rose 7.1%, while Samsung Electronics was 5.2% higher.
Tech stocks in Asia have been seeing heightened volatility in recent sessions, with South Korea's semiconductor-heavy market whipsawing between steep losses and record gains.
SK Hynix's Korean-listed shares advanced 6.5% in early morning trade, with a local newspaper reporting that the company was planning $12 billion in dividends following gains from its stake sale in Japanese firm Kioxia.
South Korean media outlet Dong-A Ilbo said on Monday that SK Hynix was considering a special dividend of about 16 trillion won.
Investors will be watching out for SK Hynix's quarterly results on Wednesday, where the South Korean chipmaker will announce shareholder returns.
Asia-Pacific markets traded broadly higher early Tuesday.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.7% while the Topix gained 0.4%. South Korea's Kospi advanced 3.8% and the tech-focused Kosdaq gained 2.9%.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.32% lower.
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open broadly higher on Tuesday, tracking U.S. stocks that kicked off the week on a solid note with optimism around the Anthropic IPO filing lifting the tech sector.
Futures for Japan's Nikkei 225 in Chicago were at 63,060 and their Osaka counterpart last traded at 62,890, compared with the index's previous close of 62,189.65.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures were at 23,233, compared with the index's last close of 23,211.81.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 opened 0.17% lower.
Tensions continue to simmer between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. forces in the Middle East are prepared to start operations against Tehran within 96 hours of an order from Trump, CNN reported.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 24 points, or about 0.1%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures hovered around the flatline.