Wall Street points toward gains as AI-focused companies recover some of last week's losses

Wall Street futures pointed higher Tuesday, with the S&P 500 up 0.4%, the Dow up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq climbing 1.3%, as AI-focused companies recovered some losses. Chipmakers Marvell Technology and Intel rose 6.2% and 5.7% respectively, while AI bellwether Nvidia gained 1.3% after disclosing a 9% stake in Dutch cloud computing company Nebius. Oil prices rose to a one-month high amid escalating U.S.-Iran conflict, with Brent crude at $90.43 and U.S. crude at $83.61.

Wall Street pointed higher before the opening bell Tuesday with chip and memory companies leading the way, while oil prices rose again as the U.S. and Iran exchanged more attacks https://apnews.com/hub/iran . Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.3%. Futures for the tech-focused Nasdaq climbed 1.3%. Data storage companies SanDisk and Western Digital continued their mostly upward swings, each jumping more than 7% in early trading. Chipmakers Marvell Technology and Intel, which have also been riding the artificial intelligence https://apnews.com/hub/artificial-intelligence roller coaster, rose 6.2% and 5.7% respectively. AI bellwether Nvidia rose 1.3% after it disclosed that it had taken a 9% stake in Dutch cloud computing company Nebius. Outside of tech, GM rose 1.7% after the automaker beat Wall Street's second-quarter sales and profit targets and raised its guidance. Oil prices rose to their highest level in a month as the situation remained volatile in the escalated conflict between the U.S. and Iran https://apnews.com/hub/iran . Brent crude, the international standard, was $1.21 higher at $90.43, well above the roughly $72 per barrel level it was at before the war started in late February. Benchmark U.S. crude was up $1.13 at $83.61 a barrel. Early Tuesday, Iran attacked another tanker https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-hormuz-strait-war-july-20-2026-8b37952906cbec6351fdcc47a0fa6297 in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway https://apnews.com/hub/strait-of-hormuz for global oil and gas transport. The U.S. announced another round of strikes targeting Iran for a 10th straight night. Iran has been retaliating against the U.S. strikes by targeting U.S. allies across the Middle East. As the U.S. and Iran traded fire, Iran's interior minister traveled to Pakistan, a main mediator, for talks, but it's still unclear if a new deal may be reached. "There's some hope of de-escalation between the U.S. and Iran," ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary Tuesday. "This won't be an easy task. Large divisions remain between the U.S. and Iran." A naval blockade https://apnews.com/article/yemen-saudi-arabia-maritime-embargo-fd7c4a3911f7eee18251483fc8af768c by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthis against Saudi Arabia has increased risks to oil supplies, they said. Markets appeared to shrug off President Donald Trump https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump 's announcement Monday that he was imposing 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, declaring that the U.S. northern neighbor has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products. The White House said in a fact sheet that the tariffs would go into effect in 30 days, meaning there is time for negotiations as Trump has not always followed through on his announced tax hikes on imports. At midday in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham was hosting his first Cabinet meeting https://apnews.com/article/uk-prime-minister-burnham-cabinet-meeting-economy-18d380d746c0e2df0d2a1f3d35cf4ce0 . France's CAC 40 was up 0.1% and Germany's DAX rose 0.2%.