US stocks rose modestly on Tuesday morning as markets eyed uncertainty in Middle East talks and the focus turned to SpaceX (SPCX) earnings after the bell.
Futures on the S&P 500 (ES=F) increased 0.1%, while contracts for the Nasdaq-100 (NQ=F) climbed 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) futures rose 0.1% after a decline in oil prices helped lift the blue-chip index to a record high on Monday.
Big Tech was in the driver’s seat again on Monday. Amazon’s (AMZN) market capitalization surpassed $3 trillion for the first time as hyperscaler stocks surged on strong earnings, which provided some cover for massive AI capital expenditure plans.
Palantir stock also soared 14% in extended trading following what CEO Alex Karp deemed an “otherworldly” quarter. In the second quarter, Palantir’s commercial revenue from the US government surged 90% year over year.
A broad range of companies report earnings on Tuesday, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Caterpillar (CAT), McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), and Spotify (SPOT). The standout, however, will be SpaceX’s first quarterly earnings report since going public. The stock has been in free-fall since its IPO in June, sending a warning signal to other megacap companies looking to enter public markets.
The energy market, meanwhile, continues to receive mixed signals about Middle East talks after President Trump called off a large-scale attack on Iran to restart talks. Iran disputed the claim that the two sides were talking, provoking frustration from Trump, who called the Islamic Republic “unbelievably duplicitous” in a Truth Social post.
“This is the last chance for them to sign a good document,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday while oil prices edged higher.
On the economic front, the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) will be the first key piece of labor market data released this week in the run-up to the all-important July jobs report on Friday.