U.S. stocks finished mixed on Tuesday. Better-than-expected corporate earnings from companies including Coca-Cola, along with a retreat in oil prices, pushed money into consumer, financial and healthcare shares, helping the Dow Jones Industrial Average jump more than 500 points for its third straight positive session. Chip stocks, though, remained under pressure worldwide. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped nearly 5%, and after steep selling hit Asian and European semiconductor names first, the pressure spread into U.S. trading and weighed on the Nasdaq. In crypto, Bitcoin and Ether traded in a choppy range as markets waited for the Federal Reserve’s rate decision and earnings from major U.S. technology companies.
Oil pullback supports broader equities as Fed decision approaches
The U.S. and Iran remained in the pause in hostilities that has been in place since the weekend, and crude prices moved lower on Tuesday. West Texas Intermediate futures fell about 4% to settle at $79.26 a barrel, while Brent crude futures dropped 4.8% to $84.09 a barrel. As Iran discussed Strait of Hormuz-related issues with Saudi Arabia and Oman, concerns over a disruption to oil supply eased somewhat.
At the same time, U.S. President Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that if Tehran refused to reach an agreement, the United States could attack Iranian bridges and power plants.
Lower oil prices offered support to the broader U.S. stock market and also encouraged a rotation out of richly valued technology names into more traditional sectors. The SPDR Health Care ETF (XLV) and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) both rose to record highs, mainly lifted by gains in insurance stocks. The Federal Reserve is set to announce its policy decision on Wednesday, and the market broadly expects rates to stay unchanged at this meeting. According to CME’s FedWatch tool, the Fed may raise rates by 25 basis points in September.
Semiconductor sell-off deepens as Nvidia-OpenAI funding plan draws scrutiny
Semiconductor shares came under pressure again on Tuesday, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down nearly 5%. Markets are concerned that Nvidia plans to provide about $250 billion in funding for an OpenAI-related data center project, a move seen as potentially deepening circular financing risk in the artificial intelligence sector.
Competition concerns also intensified after reported progress in China on AI models, memory chips and domestically developed immersion deep ultraviolet, or DUV, lithography equipment. South Korea’s Kospi Index closed down 10.8% on Tuesday, adding another blow to confidence across the global semiconductor market.
Among individual names, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) fell 8.15%, Qualcomm (QCOM) lost 4.21%, Micron Technology (MU) dropped 8.85%, and Applied Materials (AMAT) fell 7.82%. Nvidia (NVDA) bucked the trend and edged up 0.25%. Taiwan-related ADRs were mostly lower as well: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) fell 1.70%, ASE Technology (ASX) dropped 7.17%, and United Microelectronics (UMC) tumbled 9.01%.
Apple (AAPL), however, rose more than 0.9% to $340.08 a share. During the session, its market capitalization briefly topped $5 trillion for the first time.
Bitcoin at $63,775 as traders track earnings from Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple
The crypto market remained focused on selling pressure in U.S. technology shares and on macro data. According to the day’s market data, Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $63,775, down 0.20% over the past 24 hours, while Ether (ETH) stood at $1,911, up 0.81% over the same period. With semiconductor shares falling and the Nasdaq down 0.22%, digital assets traded in a low-volume consolidation pattern.
Corporate earnings remain a central focus this week. Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) are due to report after the U.S. market closes on Wednesday, while Amazon (AMZN) and Apple are scheduled to release results on Thursday. Investors will be watching AI capital spending, cloud business growth and profit outlooks. Those earnings results are expected to shape whether the selling pressure in technology stocks eases and, in turn, guide capital flows in the crypto market.