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The Markets
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The Markets
by Proactive
Proactive UK has moved.
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Go to Proactive UK

Tech

S&P 500, Nasdaq close at new highs as oil pullback eases pressure

Crude oil futures have eased further, as US defence officials struck a cautious tone on the Strait of Hormuz

Proactive

4:20pm: Oil prices retreat

Stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with momentum building into the close as investors leaned into technology names and shrugged off lingering geopolitical tensions.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the session at fresh record highs, led by continued strength in the tech sector.

The S&P 500 gained 0.8% to 7,259 and the Nasdaq climbed 1% to 25,326, while the Dow Jones rose 0.7% to finish at 49,298

Markets found support as oil prices eased, pulling back from Monday’s sharp rally. Brent crude dropped nearly 3% to around $110 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell more than 3% to below $103. The decline came as a fragile US-Iran truce appeared to hold, even as sporadic exchanges continued near the Strait of Hormuz.

Lower oil prices helped ease some inflation concerns and gave equities room to move higher, particularly growth-focused names that are sensitive to interest rate expectations.

Looking ahead, investors are turning their attention to earnings after the bell, with results expected from AMD, Strategy, and Super Micro Computer, which could further shape the tone for the tech-driven rally.

3:45pm: Proactive news headlines

2:40pm: Market movers

1:30pm: S&P hovers around new highs

The S&P continues to hover around new highs after a string of positive earnings from companies in the last couple of weeks.

"Overall, the results have been better than expected, with most companies reporting earnings and revenue above forecasts," noted Linh Tran, Market Analyst at XS.com.

"Blended earnings growth for the S&P 500 is currently estimated at around 27% year-over-year, showing that earnings fundamentals remain an important factor supporting market confidence in the rally."

Tran did note, however, that the positive earnings are not evenly distributed across all sectors, with the leading ones being Communication Services, Information Technology, and Consumer Discretionary. "This suggests that earnings breadth has improved, but market leadership remains meaningfully concentrated in growth and large-cap stocks, rather than spreading broadly across the entire market," the analyst wrote.

For that reason, according to Tran: "the short-term outlook for the S&P 500 should be viewed as positive but cautious, with the key question no longer being simply whether the index can set another record high, but whether the breadth of the rally can remain sustainable after the market moves past the peak of earnings season."

12:20pm: Hiring rebounds slightly

The U.S. labour market continues to show signs of a “low-hire, low-fire” environment, though some measures shifted in March, according to fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Job openings edged lower to 6.87 million from February levels, while the hiring rate recovered to 3.5% after hitting a six-year low the previous month. At the same time, both layoffs and voluntary quits ticked higher, with the layoff rate rising to 1.2% and the quits rate reaching 2%.

Investors are now looking ahead to April’s employment report due Friday, with economists expecting payroll growth of roughly 65,000 jobs.

11:15am: Palantir in the red

Shares of Palantir were down over 6% on Tuesday morning after reporting earnings after Monday's closing bell.

The data analytics company has raised its full-year revenue guidance by nearly $500 million, with US commercial growth running at its fastest rate on record.

Revenue for the three months to March came in at $1.63 billion, up 85% year on year and ahead of the Wall Street consensus of $1.54 billion.

Palantir lifted its full-year revenue forecast to a range of $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion. That compares with prior guidance of $7.18 billion to $7.20 billion and a Street estimate of $7.24 billion.

However, Jefferies has flagged concerns that Palantir's roughly 60% margin profile may point to underinvestment — particularly on the go-to-market side — which could constrain the company's ability to capture the full scope of its commercial opportunity.

10am: Nasdaq marches at front as Wall St opens in green

US stocks have opened higher, led by Intel's 11% gain and other tech stocks.

The Nasdsq has marched 0.9% higher, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.7% and the Dow 0.4%.

Chipmakers and hardware groups were among the strongest movers, with Intel joined by Micron, Western Digital, Seagate all up over 6%, closely followed by Lam Research, ARM, ASML and AMD to top the Nasdaq 100 risers.

Palantir has sunk 4.5%, despite strong looking earnings.

Holding back the Dow are falls for Salesforce, Visa, Nike and American Express.

8.30am: Oil prices ease, as Hegseth plays down Strait fighting

Crude oil futures have eased further, as US defence officials struck a cautious tone on the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iranian actions remain below the threshold for a wider conflict, despite continued harassment of shipping.

In a press conference just now, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth insisted the ceasefire “is not over”, but said current activity is “low level”.

Joint chiefs chair Dan Caine said Iran has attacked vessels nine times and seized two ships since the ceasefire, with around 22,500 mariners still unable to transit the Strait.

Hegseth says “hundreds of ships” are waiting to pass through, with US forces providing protection, warning Iran would face “overwhelming firepower” if it escalates further.

WTI crude is now down 3.4% at below $103 a barrel, down from $106 yesterday and $110+ last week.

8.15am: Nasdaq and Dow to open higher as crude prices soften

US stocks are expected to open higher on Tuesday, with oil prices pulling back slightly as hostilities in the Gulf did not escalate further after tensions were ramped up at the start of the week.

Wall Street futures were led by the tech-centred Nasdaq, up 0.5%, followed by a 0.3% gain for the S&P 500 and 0.2% for the Dow Jones.

The previous session saw the Dow fall 1.1% to 48,942, while the S&P slipped 0.4% to 7,201 and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.2% to 25,068. The Dow Jones Transport index fell 4.8%, with its freight, airlines and delivery constituents falling.

WTI crude rose to around $107 a barrel as President Trump threatened to "blow the place apart" if Iran got in the way of ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz, with facilities at the UAE's Fujairah export hub reportedly struck by an Iranian attack.

The US responded by firing at Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz, with President Trump claiming that at least six Iranian gunships had been obliterated.

Crude prices have eased back to $104 a barrel this morning.

"There were concerns that the fragile ceasefire had broken down," said market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation, following reports saying that the US and Iran traded missiles as the US Navy escorted some shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Conflicting reports have emerged about the skirmishes, with Iran not claiming responsibility for the UAE attack.

"Despite the uncertainty, US equities continue to get a boost from the first quarter earnings season," says Morrison.

Of the 63% of S&P 500 constituents that have announced results so far, 84% have beaten consensus expectations for earnings, according to FactSet, while 81% have exceeded revenue forecasts.

The year-on-year earnings growth rate is 27.1%.

"If this holds up, it will be the strongest earnings growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2021, when corporations were bouncing back after the Covid disaster," Morrison added.

Aside from the US and Israel's war on Iran and the struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz, he also flagged uncertainty around the Federal Reserve, where preparations are moving ahead for Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as chair.

The probability of a quarter-point rate hike before the year-end has climbed to 24% from 0% a week ago, according to the CME’s FedWatch Tool, while the likelihood of no-change dropped to 66% from 80%.

With Powell saying he will stay on at the board of governors, this means that Trump's pick of Stephen Miran will have to step down.

Palantir Technologies rose in afterhours trading after revenues strongly beat expecations, net income quadrupled and guidance was raised, but the share is down 3% premarket despite the earnings driving forecast upgrades.

Intel shares are up 3.6% following reports that Apple executives had held talks about chipmaking services.

Earnings pre-market today include Shopify, Eaton Corporation, Pfizer, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Duke Energy, KKR, Cummins, Suncor Energy, Emerson Electric and Marathon Petroleum, with after-hours led by AMD and Arista.

In early trade this morning, Bitcoin climbed 3% to over $81,000, the highest level in just over three months. The crypto is up 21% over a month.

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