4:15pm: Skepticism creeps in
US markets closed sharply lower on Tuesday as investors grew increasingly uneasy that corporate earnings aren’t keeping pace with sky-high market valuations.
The Nasdaq led the decline, tumbling 2% to 23,349, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.2% to 6,772. The Dow shed 0.5%, closing at 47,085, and the Russell 2000 slipped 1.6% to 2,431.
The pullback came as several major bank CEOs warned of a potential market correction, adding fuel to worries that the year’s AI-driven rally may be losing steam. Palantir shares sank nearly 9% even after posting solid quarterly results, with analysts pointing to its rich valuation as a growing concern.
Investors are now looking to AMD’s earnings after the bell for clues on whether the semiconductor sector can keep powering the market higher.
Meanwhile, reports from Spotify and Supermicro are also on deck as traders brace for another busy stretch of tech earnings.
3:50pm: Proactive news headlines
- Candel Therapeutics will present three studies at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s annual meeting, showcasing its research in next-generation cancer immunotherapies.
- North Bay Resources reported an average of 3.38 ounces per ton of gold from its first ore shipment at the Fran Gold Project in British Columbia.
- 374Water began processing the first phase of its North Carolina state contract to destroy Aqueous Film-Forming Foam using its AirSCWO waste destruction technology.
- Ocean Power Technologies was certified by AUVSI as a Trusted Uncrewed Maritime Systems Operator Training Provider, joining a select group authorized to deliver industry-standard training.
- Midnight Sun Mining reported initial drill results from its Solwezi Project in Zambia, including 7.39% copper over 14.86 metres, identifying new zones of significant oxide copper mineralization.
- Protalix Biotherapeutics and Chiesi Global Rare Diseases have asked the EMA to re-examine a negative opinion on a proposed once-every-four-weeks dosing regimen for Elfabrio.
- Sintana Energy issued a shareholder letter detailing its proposed all-share acquisition of Challenger Energy Group and the terms of the published Scheme Document.
- Power Nickel Mines reported high-grade copper assays of up to 11.97% over 5.35 meters from drilling at the Lion Zone of its Nisk Project in Quebec.
2:45pm: Market movers
- Novo Nordisk outbid Pfizer with a $10 billion offer to acquire obesity-focused biotech Metsera, whose board deemed the Danish drugmaker’s proposal “superior.”
- Bank of America downgraded DraftKings to ‘Neutral’ and cut its price target to $35, citing market share losses in iGaming and persistent state tax pressures.
- Ferrari beat third-quarter earnings expectations on higher prices and demand for customized and hybrid cars, offsetting weaker sales in China and tariff concerns in the U.S.
- iHeartMedia shares jumped 25% after reports that Netflix is in talks to license exclusive video podcast rights from the media company.
- Denny’s shares soared over 50% after agreeing to be taken private for $6.25 per share by a consortium led by TriArtisan Capital Advisors, Treville Capital Group, and Yadav Enterprises.
- Uber shares slid 6.6% despite posting stronger-than-expected third-quarter results, as investors focused on its forecast for thinner profit margins amid new growth investments.
- Hydrogen Utopia International shares rose 9% after receiving approval from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment to operate legally in the Kingdom.
- Diversified Energy shares climbed 10% after the company raised its 2025 earnings and cash flow targets following a record third quarter.
12:55pm: A red afternoon
Here’s a quick look at how markets are performing as the afternoon trading session begins:
The Nasdaq is still firmly in the red, down 1.6%. The Dow is down 0.5%, and the S&P 500 has lost 1%.
The small cap Russell 2000 index is matching is larger peers with declines of 1.1%.
12:10pm: Burry bets against Nvidia, Palantir
Investor Michael Burry, famed for predicting the 2008 housing crash, is taking a bearish stance on Big Tech. On Monday, his hedge fund, Scion Asset Management, disclosed put options on Nvidia (NVDA) and Palantir (PLTR), positioning to profit if the stocks fall.
Burry, whose bets were chronicled in The Big Short and later portrayed by Christian Bale, has previously made high-profile calls on Tesla and Estée Lauder, with mixed results.
“Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play,” Burry wrote on X in October, under the handle “Princess Cassandra,” referencing the Greek figure who foresaw disaster.
His warning comes as the Nasdaq has surged over 20% this year on AI-driven gains, echoing caution from Wall Street leaders who see a potential correction in tech valuations ahead.
11:25am: Are investors overestimating Uber?
Uber Technologies Inc were down 7.1% on Tuesday morning after the ride-hailing and delivery giant signaled softer profit margins as it ramps up investment in growth initiatives, despite putting up stronger-than-expected third-quarter results.
Wedbush is warning investors may be underestimating autonomous vehicle (AV) disruption while overestimating Uber’s role. The firm notes incumbents often peak just before major industry shifts. Uber’s 3Q results beat expectations—gross bookings +21.4% YoY ($49.7B), adjusted EBITDA $2.3B—but AV challenges loom.
Plans for an Uber-owned AV fleet carry execution risk, could strain its Waymo partnership, and lag behind Tesla and Waymo’s robotaxi networks. While 4Q guidance is solid, Wedbush sees limited near-term upside. The AV debate is a key overhang, with only a few players likely to dominate the emerging market.
10:45am: A deeper dive into Palantir
Shares of Palantir were recovering slightly by midmorning Tuesday, although still trading down 6.9%.
Still, there were still some fans out there for a story of exponential growth that has underpinned a 400% rise in the stock over the past year.
Among the cheerleaders is Wedbush Securities, which calls Palantir the “Messi of AI”, posted another strong quarter and prompted the broker to lift its 12-month price target from $200 to $230, while keeping an 'outperform' rating.
The broker-dealer's call followed a strong third-quarter showing with revenue up 63% year on year to $1.18 billion, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s $1.09 billion forecast and the company’s own guidance.
Wedbush describes Palantir as one of the core companies of the coming AI decade. Its “Rule of 40” score, which measures growth and profitability, stands at an impressive 114%. Analyst Daniel Ives argued that any short-term pullback in the shares should be seen as a buying opportunity.
9.55am: Palantir leads sell-off despite strong results
Wall Street stock indexes opened sharply lower, but losses are being pared.
The Dow Jones is down 0.45%, the S&P 500 has fallen 0.70% and the Nasdaq slumped 0.91%, while the small cap Russell 2000 is worst hit, down 1.31%.
Notable Nasdaq fallers include Palantir, down almost 9%.
A fall in bitcoin has hit crypto treasury companies, with Strategy down 4.3%.
Chipmakers are down too, including Micron Technology, Intel Corp, AMD and ARM.
8am: Nasdaq and S&P called 1% lower as tech valuations eyed
Wall Street tech stocks are likely to make an about-turn on Tuesday, with some analysts talking about an abrupt shift in the market mood.
Futures for the Dow Jones were down 0.6%, while those for the S&P 500 were down 1% and the Nasdaq 100 was called 1.3% lower.
For the Dow, this will extend a decline from the day before, when it fell 0.48%, while reversing gains of 0.17% for the S&P 0.17% and 0.46% for the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Gains for the S&P and Nasdaq reflected a 1.2% jump for the Magnificent 7 tech giants, while the S&P 500 excluding the Mag-7 fell 0.3% and the equal-weighted S&P 500 also fell 0.3%.
Big tech was lifted by more AI deals, this time involving Amazon and OpenAI, followed by Microsoft doing a deal with former bitcoin miner IREN to provide data center capacity; Nvidia benefiting from Microsoft winning US approval to ship chips to the UAE, and Cipher Mining also signing a $5.5 billion data center deal with Amazon.
European stock indices were weaker across the board on Tuesday, with a 1.2% decline for the benchmarks in Germany and France, while London's FTSE 100 saw some help from a major political speech that lowered the pound and reassured bond markets.
Overnight saw "a bit more negativity take over", said Jim Reid, macro strategist at Deutsche Bank, after Palantir fell over 7% afterhours, with the shares trading down more than 8% ahead of Wednesday's opening bell.
"Their results were good but markets were disappointed at the lack of company visibility for the whole of 2026," he said, as well as investors' spotlight turning on a company with the highest price-to-sales ratio in the S&P at 85.
Palantir stock had risen more than 150% this year, while the index average is a price-to-sales ratio of around 3.5
Investors were also weighing up weak macro data, hawkish Fedspeak, and a government shutdown that’s now the joint-longest in history and from midnight tonight will be the longest ever.
Market analytst Kenny Polcari at Slatestone said: "It looks like the tone has changed from yesterday to today – expect the algo’s to create more chaos – it’s always worse on the way down because buyers will step aside to see just how anxious the sellers get."
He said he suspected the S&P "might test 6775 ish – down about 1.1%.
"And if that fails to hold then the trendline would be the next logical stop, and that is at 6647, down 3% from here. Something that is not out of the question – if they get themselves all worked up. I don’t think it happens today – but I am not ruling it out over the next couple of days.
"Once they focus on a negative headline – then they only focus on the negative headlines (until they don’t)."
More media spotlight will be on US politics today, with the New York City mayoral election, as well as gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.
Today's earnings include Advanced Micro Devices, Shopify, Uber, Arista Networks, Amgen, Pfizer and Spotify.