Stocks fell again on Tuesday as prospects of a deal between the U.S. and Iran remain elusive despite optimistic remarks from a top Pakistani official
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.34%, while the S&P 500 did so by 0.32%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed, falling 0.60%.
At the same time, oil continued to climb. Brent crude gained 1.64% at 3:53 p.m. ET and clocked in at $89.15, while West Texas Intermediate, increased by 1.57% and stood at $83.42 at the same time.
Bloomberg News detailed that Pakistan's defense minister, Khawaja Asif, said "things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal."
He went on to say that "signals in the last two to three days are that we are close to some sort of an arrangement" despite ongoing rhetoric from both sides. He did not provide further details.
President Donald Trump did not address any potential deals and said the U.S. would double down on economic pressure.
Speaking to Real America's Voice, Trump said the country's economy is in tatters. "They've got 300% inflation. Their currency has almost no value. They're not paying their soldiers. Their soldiers are leaving."
He went on to say that while military options are still on the table, he is leaning towards continuing down the current path: "Economically, they are a mess. They can't borrow money. We control their money, what they had, which is a lot. They had a lot, and we have total control of it. I'm their banker," Trump added.
Elsewhere, Nvidia was mostly flat after teaming up with some of Wall Street's biggest financial firms to mobilize more than $500 billion for artificial intelligence infrastructure, part of an ambitious effort to turn AI chips and computing capacity into a new asset class that investors can finance much like real estate, power plants or other critical infrastructure.
The chip giant has signed memorandums of understanding with Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR to create financing platforms for Nvidia customers, the company said.
The initiative could reshape how the enormous buildout of AI infrastructure is funded. Rather than forcing hyperscalers, AI labs and other companies to finance increasingly expensive data centers and graphics processing units entirely from their own balance sheets, the platforms would tap institutional credit, insurance capital and private investment.
Intel, in turn, has increased its planned stock offering to $20 billion from $15 billion, seeking additional capital as booming artificial intelligence demand pushes the chipmaker to increase spending on manufacturing capacity.
The company priced the offering at $95 per share and expects the transaction to close on Aug. 12, subject to customary closing conditions. The stock was also largely flat after the session.
