The Nasdaq Composite ended Tuesday virtually flat, gaining just 0.04% to 26,831.94, as an initial surge in chip stocks faded within the first 20 minutes of trading. The modest move came after Anthropic's IPO prospectus revealed plans to allocate $518 billion toward cloud and AI infrastructure, a figure that initially boosted sentiment across the semiconductor space.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.07% to 51,446.51, while the S&P 500 managed a 0.13% gain to 7,694.21. The Russell 2000 small-cap index rose 0.15%, and the MSCI World index was little changed, up 0.01%. The CBOE Volatility Index eased 1.87% to 15.77, suggesting some of the previous session's stress had cooled.
Tuesday's action followed a broad selloff on Monday, when all three major indexes closed lower as oil prices and Treasury yields climbed after President Trump rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. That geopolitical backdrop remains a lingering concern for investors, though the calmer volatility reading points to some stabilization.
Chip stocks lead but momentum fades
Nvidia rose 0.48% to $229.96, well off its early 1.35% gain. Micron Technology's advance trimmed to 1.21% at $1,066.70 from an earlier 1.85%. SanDisk, which had jumped 1.47% shortly after the open, was nearly flat, up just 0.04% at $1,713.59.
In contrast, AMD extended its gain to 0.99% at $613.88 from 0.45% earlier, while Intel turned positive, up 0.18% at $116.24 after trading slightly lower at the open. Broadcom added 2.74% to $359.16.
Elsewhere, Tesla's decline deepened to 1.36% at $352.61, and Apple fell 1.54% to $333.20. Bloom Energy was the standout gainer, up 9.77% to $288.54. Meta Platforms extended its gain to 0.87% at $721.88. CarMax jumped 6.91% after publishing strong quarterly results on Monday.
White House AI meeting in focus
Investors are also watching a Tuesday lunch at the White House, where President Trump is set to meet with leading AI executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. House Speaker Mike Johnson is also expected to attend.
The meeting is expected to focus on finding a balance between AI innovation and regulatory oversight, Johnson said Monday, as concerns about rogue AI agents and safety incidents have drawn wider public attention in recent weeks.
Economic data ahead
Investors face a busy stretch of economic data this week that could shape the outlook for Federal Reserve policy. According to Tuesday's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings stood at 7.079 million at the end of August, below analysts' expectations of 7.23 million.
The core PCE price index, the second-quarter GDP estimate and ADP's private payrolls report will arrive later in the week. Friday's nonfarm payrolls and unemployment figures will offer the clearest read yet on the labor market heading into the Fed's October meeting, where traders currently price in a more than 72% chance of another rate hike.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
