Wall Street Mixed Ahead Of Week's Key Events, Cruise Lines Rally, Oil Slips: What's Driving Markets Tuesday?

Wall Street remained relatively quiet during Tuesday morning trading as investors held their breath for key events later in the week.

The AI powerhouse Nvidia Corp. NVDA is in the spotlight ahead of its Wednesday post-market earnings report, while traders also eagerly await the Federal Reserve's favorite inflation report on Friday.

Tech stocks slightly rebounded by 0.3%, after a 1% drop on Monday, while the S&P 500 held broadly flat. Both blue chips and small caps fell, down 0.2% and 1% respectively.

Industry-wise cruise lines led gains, with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH, Carnival Corp. CCL and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL rising 4%, 3.9% and 3.3% on positive investor sentiment toward the sector.

Semiconductors rebounded, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX up 0.9%, after tumbling 2.5% a day earlier.

Energy-related stocks fell, dragged down by the pullback in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light crude fell by 2% as geopolitical risks in the Middle East showed no significant escalation in recent hours, while Goldman Sachs analysts downplayed concerns over potential disruptions in Libyan oil production.

The U.S. dollar eased by 0.2%, reversing Monday’s gains. Treasury yields remained unchanged, with speculators continuing to assign a higher chance on smaller 25-basis-point rate cut in September.

Gold prices slipped by 0.1%, while Bitcoin BTC/USD fell by 2%, mimicking Monday’s drop.

Tuesday’s Performance In Major Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day chg %
Nasdaq 100	19,576	0.3%
S&P 500	5,621	0.1%
Dow Jones	41,154	-0.2%
Russell 2000	2,200	-1.0%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was flat at $560.92.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA eased 0.1% to $412.16.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ rose 0.2% to $476.11.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM fell 1% to $218.35.
• The Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF outperformed, by 0.4%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE lagged, down by 1.1%.

Tuesday’s Stock Movers

• Paramount Global PARA fell over 6% after media veteran Edgar Bronfman, Jr., withdrew his offer for the company paving the way for it to combine with Skydance Media, LLC.
• CAVA Group, Inc. CAVA plunged over 5% after the company’s post-earnings spike on Monday, as the CEO and other insiders reduced their stakes.
• PDD Holdings Inc. PDD fell over 3% after Monday’s sharp 30% drop, as analysts slashed their price forecasts on the Chinese retail giant.
• Ambarella, Inc. AMBA, Box, Inc. BOX, nCino, Inc. NCNO, Nordstrom, Inc. JWN, PVH Corp. PVH, Semtech Corporation SMTC and SentinelOne, Inc. S are among the companies due to release their quarterly results after the market close.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.