U.S. equity futures are modestly higher ahead of the July CPI report, with AI infrastructure earnings supporting growth stocks. Early Wednesday, S&P 500 futures were up about 0.1%, Nasdaq 100 futures were up roughly 0.4% and Dow futures were essentially flat. The Russell 2000 gained 0.3% Tuesday and enters the session as the relative outperformer among the major indexes, although small-cap direction will depend heavily on the CPI-driven move in Treasury yields.
U.S. equities finished lower Tuesday as fading optimism around a U.S.-Iran agreement pushed oil higher. The S&P 500 declined 0.32%, the Dow fell 0.34% and the Nasdaq lost 0.60%, while the Russell 2000 gained 0.3%. Amazon fell 2.1%, Alphabet declined 3.8% and SpaceX lost nearly 4%, offsetting strength elsewhere in the market. Total U.S. exchange volume was relatively light at 15.0 billion shares, versus a 20-session average of 17.6 billion.
Treasury yields eased slightly Tuesday, with the 2-year yield down 2 basis points to 4.22%, the 10-year down 1 basis point to 4.69% and the 30-year down 1 basis point to 5.24%. The DXY was unchanged at 99.81, while the euro traded near $1.1546, sterling near $1.3509 and the dollar near ¥159.29. Early Wednesday, the dollar index was near 99.86 and the yen had weakened slightly to around ¥159.35 as markets waited for inflation data.
September WTI crude rose 1.55% Tuesday to $83.40, while December gold gained 0.20% to $4,428.70. Crude is extending higher this morning, with WTI near $83.90 and Brent around $89.50, following fresh attacks on shipping and Iran’s insistence that the Strait of Hormuz will remain restricted unless its conditions are met. Spot gold was near $4,409, up about 1%, as geopolitical demand offset the risk that firmer inflation could revive Fed-tightening expectations.
The key event is the July CPI report at 8:30 a.m. ET. Consensus expects headline CPI to rise 0.1% month over month after June’s 0.4% decline, with year-over-year inflation easing to 3.4% from 3.5%. Core CPI is expected to rise 0.2% month over month and slow to 2.5% year over year from 2.6%. Markets are roughly evenly split on whether the Fed raises rates in September, making today’s inflation reading the most important near-term catalyst for equities and Treasury yields.
Sector Highlights
Sector performance showed another defensive and inflation-sensitive rotation. Utilities led with a 1.11% gain, followed by Energy +1.06% and Industrials +0.60%. Financials slipped just 0.03%, while Materials, Consumer Staples, Health Care and Technology each declined between 0.09% and 0.26%. The largest pressure came from Communication Services -2.12%, Real Estate -0.86% and Consumer Discretionary -0.75%. Breadth was nevertheless modestly positive, with advancers leading 1.09:1 on the NYSE and 1.26:1 on the Nasdaq, suggesting the weakness in the capitalization-weighted indexes was concentrated in several large growth stocks.
Information Technology
- Super Micro Computer (SMCI +9% premarket) rallied after forecasting fiscal 2027 revenue of $65–$72 billion, well above the roughly $52.5 billion Wall Street consensus. Fourth-quarter gross margin improved to 17.5%, while management said AI-server demand remains strong despite some customer delays tied to power, cooling and networking infrastructure.
- CoreWeave (CRWV +18% premarket) raised its annual revenue, operating-profit and capital-spending forecasts as demand for Nvidia-powered compute capacity continued to exceed supply. Its backlog reached $104.2 billion, with another $25 billion-plus in commitments secured early in the current quarter.
- Nebius (NBIS +10%), Applied Digital (APLD +6%) and IREN (IREN +5%) rose in sympathy as the Super Micro/CoreWeave results reinforced expectations for sustained AI data-center spending.
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) reports after the close, providing another read on AI networking demand and enterprise infrastructure spending.
Communication Services
- Alphabet (GOOGL -3.8%) was one of Tuesday’s largest mega-cap drags as investors reduced exposure ahead of CPI and continued to debate the return on elevated AI capital spending.
Consumer Discretionary
- Amazon (AMZN -2.1%) declined Tuesday despite strong recent AWS results, contributing to Consumer Discretionary’s underperformance as investors trimmed large-cap growth exposure ahead of inflation data.
- On Holding (ONON -20.3%) tumbled after second-quarter sales missed estimates, one of the largest individual-stock declines of Tuesday’s session.
Financials
- Apollo Global Management (APO +6.2%) and Blackstone (BX +4%) rallied after being included among financial institutions working with Nvidia on compute-financing platforms intended to mobilize more than $500 billion for AI infrastructure.
Industrials
- Jabil (JBL +5.9%) gained after UBS upgraded the electronics-manufacturing company to Buy from Neutral.
- SpaceX (SPCX -4%) declined as investors continued to weigh heavy capital spending against the long-term growth outlook for Starlink and launch operations.
Energy
- Venture Global (VG -7.3%) fell after second-quarter revenue came in slightly below expectations, even as the broader Energy sector benefited from higher crude prices.
