U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as investors weighed escalating rhetoric from President Donald Trump against growing hopes for a last-minute deal between the U.S. and Iran. The S&P 500 edged up 0.08%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.10%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.18%, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq extending their recent winning streak.
Markets saw sharp intraday swings as tensions appeared to intensify earlier in the session, with Trump warning of potential strikes if Iran failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, sentiment improved in the final hour of trading following reports of a proposal brokered by Pakistan that could delay military action and reopen the waterway temporarily.
Oil prices remained volatile, briefly surging above $117 before easing to around $112 per barrel, reflecting uncertainty around supply disruptions. Despite the volatility, traders increasingly viewed the closure of the Strait as a negotiation tactic rather than a long-term outcome.
Within equities, sector performance was mixed. Broadcom (AVGO) stood out, rising more than 6% on expanded AI partnerships with Google and Anthropic. Meanwhile, healthcare stocks including UnitedHealth (UNH), CVS Health (CVS), and Humana (HUM) rallied sharply after better-than-expected Medicare Advantage rate updates.
Despite the rebound into the close, investor positioning remains cautious. Markets are still highly sensitive to headline risk, with any confirmation or breakdown of negotiations likely to drive sharp moves in both equities and energy prices in the near term.
📊 Market Wrap
🧠 Analyst Notes
💬 Market Highlights
Broadcom Rises After Signing Long-Term AI Chip Deal with Google
Broadcom (AVGO) rose more than 3% in premarket trading after disclosing a long-term agreement with Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) through 2031 to develop future generations of Google’s custom AI chips, known as tensor processing units, along with a supply assurance agreement covering networking and other components for next-generation AI racks.
The announcement could create upside to Broadcom’s previously discussed AI revenue target of $100 billion to $130 billion, according to Citi. Separately, Broadcom and Google also signed a deal with Anthropic to provide multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity starting in 2027, further strengthening Broadcom’s role in the AI infrastructure supply chain.
Jeff Bezos’ Project Prometheus Hires xAI Co-Founder from OpenAI
Project Prometheus, the AI company founded by Jeff Bezos and backed by more than $6 billion in initial funding, has reportedly hired Kyle Kozic, an xAI co-founder who had been at OpenAI, to focus on infrastructure. The company was launched late last year and is focused on applying AI to engineering and manufacturing across industries such as computing, aerospace, and automotive.
The hire signals that Project Prometheus is building out serious large-scale technical capabilities, following earlier reports that it is also seeking to raise as much as $100 billion for a fund aimed at acquiring industrial and manufacturing businesses and upgrading them with AI.
RTX Unit Wins $708.9M U.S. Air Force Contract
RTX Corporation’s (RTX) Raytheon unit won a U.S. Air Force contract worth up to about $708.9 million for Small Diameter Bomb Increment II Lot 12, covering production, containers, test equipment, and spares. The work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by March 6, 2030. At the time of award, roughly $338.5 million in fiscal 2025–2026 procurement, operations and maintenance, and foreign military sales funding had already been obligated. The award strengthens RTX’s defense backlog and reinforces its position as a key supplier of precision weapons systems to the U.S. military.
📅 Earnings Watch
Geopolitical developments around the Iran conflict remain the key driver for markets, with investors closely watching whether negotiations translate into a concrete de-escalation in the coming sessions.
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