U.S. stock futures pared losses to advance on Tuesday, as the Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices gained, following Monday’s lower close.
As the U.S. and Iran attacks continued for the third straight night, U.S. Central Command said that operations were aimed at imposing "a heavy cost" on Iranian forces and reducing their ability to attack commercial shipping and civilians in the Strait of Hormuz.
Responding to President Donald Trump‘s Truth Social post, calling the U.S. the “GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi argued that "Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER.”
The June Consumer Price Index plunged 0.4% sequentially—marking its largest single-month decline since April 2020—to pull the year-over-year headline inflation rate down to 3.5%, significantly cooler than the 3.8% FactSet consensus estimate.
This rapid deceleration in consumer prices mirrored a surge in small business confidence; the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index jumped 2.1 points in June to a near-average reading of 97.4, fueled by collapsing oil prices and a major rebound in real sales expectations.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.62%, and the two-year bond was at 4.28%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool’s projections show markets pricing a 58.8% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged during July’s meeting.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.11% |
| S&P 500 | 0.52% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 1.15% |
| Russell 2000 | 1.39% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were mixed in premarket on Tuesday. The SPY was down 0.31% at $751.49, while the QQQ advanced by 1.19% to $720.23.
Read Also: Stock Market: Will S&P 500 Open Up or Down Today?
Stocks In Focus
Tower Semiconductor
- Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM ) rose 17.50% in premarket on Tuesday after announcing about $3 billion worth of investment in strategic capacity expansion in Toyama and Niigata.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that TSEM maintains a strong price trend in the long, medium, and short terms, with a solid quality score.
Vision Marine Technologies
- Vision Marine Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: VMAR ) surged 57.45% after it reported $48.6 million in revenue, $11.8 million in gross profit at a 24.3% margin, and $2.4 million in cash from operating activities for the first nine months of fiscal 2026, as per its third-quarter results.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that VMAR maintains a weak price trend in the short, long, and medium terms.
Twin Vee PowerCats
- Twin Vee PowerCats Co. (NASDAQ: VEEE ) dropped 4.55% after a 416% rally on Monday as the company announced a strategic merger and a concurrent privatization plan for its recreational marine business.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that VEEE maintains a weak price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a good value score.
Agenus
- Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN ) fell 1.63% after an 83% rally on Monday, when it reported updated three-year Phase 1b data. Results showed its botensilimab plus balstilimab combination achieved a median overall survival of 21.2 months in patients with refractory microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer without active liver metastases, with 24-month and 36-month survival rates of 41% and 33%, respectively.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that AGEN maintains a strong price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a moderate value score.
JPMorgan Chase
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM ) traded down 2.55% despite beating second-quarter 2026 expectations. The bank reported diluted earnings per share of $7.70 on net reported revenue of $57.35 billion.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that JPM maintains a strong price trend in the short, long, and medium terms, with a solid growth score.
Cues From Last Session
Energy, utilities, and financial stocks recorded the biggest gains on Monday, while information technology and communication services stocks closed the session lower, driving U.S. stocks to settle down as the Nasdaq Composite plunged over 400 points during the session amid a surge in oil prices.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Dow Jones | -0.26% | 52,498.64 |
| S&P 500 | -0.79% | 7,515.34 |
| Nasdaq Composite | -1.55% | 25,873.18 |
| Russell 2000 | -0.83% | 2,953.17 |
Insights From Analysts
According to the latest LPL Financial commentary, the U.S. economy faces a challenging landscape shaped by “sticky inflation and resilient growth.”
With core inflation holding near 3% and headline numbers pushed higher by energy costs, the Federal Reserve under new Chairman Kevin Warsh is expected to remain on a “prolonged pause,” potentially delivering at most a single rate cut in December.
LPL Research notes that this leaves “a policy environment where exogenous shocks, not just domestic demand, are shaping the inflation trajectory.”
Consequently, LPL Financial expects 10-year Treasury yields to remain range-bound between 4.0% and 4.5% for the remainder of 2026. The corporate bond market is also absorbing a historic, AI-driven borrowing wave from tech giants, which may pressure credit spreads modestly higher without causing broader instability.
For the U.S. stock market, LPL’s Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation Committee maintains a “tactical equity overweight and fixed income underweight.”
This equity optimism reflects an expectation that geopolitical and commodity supply strains will eventually ease, justifying a defensive factor tilt in equities while remaining cautious on rate-sensitive fixed income sectors.
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on this Tuesday.
- The all-items Consumer Price Index dropped 0.4% in June (the largest monthly decline since April 2020), dragging the annual rate down to 3.5% from May’s 4.2%.
- The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rebounded 2.1 points to 97.4, coming within striking distance of its 52-year historical average of 98.0.
- Federal Reserve Board Chair Kevin Warsh will present the Monetary Policy Report to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 a.m., and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will speak at a Kenosha Area Business Alliance event at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets
Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 3.86% to hover around $81.16 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.43% to hover around $4,018.22 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.14% lower at the 101.0910 level.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.81% lower at $62,631.32 per coin over the last 24 hours.
Asian markets were mostly mixed on Tuesday, as Australia’s ASX 200 and India’s Nifty 50 index fell. While China’s CSI 300, South Korea’s Kospi, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 indices rose. European markets were lower in early trade.
Read Also: Trump Admin Rescinds $10 Billion Child Care Funding Freeze for Five Democratic-Led States
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
