TLDR
- US stocks fell Monday with the Dow down 0.6% and S&P 500 down 0.2% as chip stock gains faded
- Oil prices hovered near $90 a barrel as US-Iran strikes entered a 10th consecutive night
- Yemen’s Houthi militia threatened to blockade Saudi Arabian oil exports through the Bab al-Mandab Strait
- Nvidia disclosed a 9.3% stake in Amsterdam-based neocloud firm Nebius, sending its shares up 5%
- Big Tech earnings from Alphabet, Tesla, and Texas Instruments are due Wednesday, with AI spending in focus
US stocks ended lower on Monday as early gains in chip stocks faded and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East kept markets on edge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the S&P 500 dropped 0.2%, while the Nasdaq barely dipped below the flat line.
Chip stocks had initially risen more than 3% but closed just 0.6% higher. Investors remain cautious about the pace of AI-related spending, with new Chinese competition adding to the uncertainty.
Middle East Conflict Keeps Oil Elevated
The US and Iran continued exchanging strikes for a 10th straight night. Diplomatic efforts to pause the fighting have so far failed to gain traction.
BREAKING: Iran's IRGC says it has completely destroyed Amazon's central data hub in Bahrain with several cruise missiles and warns more are coming, per Fars News.
The attack marks a new phase: Iran is now targeting U.S. tech infrastructure. The IRGC has warned 18 American tech…
— The Hormuz Report (@HormuzReport) July 21, 2026
Yemen’s Houthi militia, backed by Iran, announced plans to blockade Saudi ships through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. That narrow waterway connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a key route for global shipping.
Brent crude stood at around $89 a barrel early Tuesday, well above the roughly $70 level seen before the US-Israeli assault on Iran began in late February. A brief return to that lower level followed a ceasefire deal in June, but that agreement has since broken down.
Uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz remains a concern. Any escalation involving both straits could drive oil prices higher and stoke global inflation, potentially pushing central banks to raise interest rates.
President Trump also warned that Iran “will pay” for the deaths of US military personnel.
Nvidia Takes Stake in Nebius as AI Earnings Loom
Nvidia disclosed a 9.3% stake in Nebius, an AI-focused cloud infrastructure company based in Amsterdam. The stake amounts to roughly 22.26 million shares and includes shares from a warrant tied to a $2 billion investment Nvidia made earlier this year.
Nvidia cannot exercise that warrant before September 11, according to a regulatory filing. Nebius shares jumped 5% in after-hours trading. The company was spun off from Russian search engine Yandex and is targeting more than 5 gigawatts of computing capacity by end-2030.
On Tuesday, earnings are due from Charles Schwab, Danaher, 3M, Northrop Grumman, and General Motors before the opening bell. Interactive Brokers, Chubb, and Capital One report after the close.
The bigger focus comes Wednesday, when Alphabet, Tesla, and Texas Instruments report. Analysts say those results will offer a clearer picture of whether companies are generating real returns from their AI investments.
In Europe, Novartis beat second-quarter profit expectations, helped by lower costs despite weaker sales of its heart drug Entresto.
US stock futures pointed higher Tuesday morning, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 1.3%, suggesting some recovery from Monday’s losses.
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