U.S. stocks open mostly steady, with market participants remaining optimistic about technology and chip stocks

The U.S. stock market held steady in early trading on Tuesday, as increased confidence in a U.S.-Iran agreement weighed on oil prices. SpaceX extended its gains, and overall market sentiment remained strong. At 10:19 a.m. New York time, the S&P 500 index was little changed, the Nasdaq 100 index fell 0.3%, and the Dow Jones rose 0.8%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined 0.6%. As the U.S. and Iran prepared to officially sign a temporary peace agreement on Friday, traders were looking for signs from policymakers regarding the impact of the war. The Bank of Japan raised interest rates as expected, but most central banks in developed economies—including the Federal Reserve—are broadly expected to keep policies unchanged this week. Henry Allen and other strategists at Deutsche Bank wrote in a report that the U.S.-Iran deal “sparked a wave of optimism across several asset classes.” They noted that inflation concerns are easing and investors are “discounting the possibility of stagflation.” Allen specifically mentioned the rise in tech stocks, especially the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which closed at a record high on Monday. A Bank of America survey showed that most investors believe the fear of missing out on potential gains is still driving AI stock trading, suggesting the AI stock boom is likely to continue. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a report, “The SpaceX IPO is an important watershed moment for the entire tech industry” and has positive implications for the upcoming listings of OpenAI and Anthropic. He stated: “There remains significant upside for the tech and chip sector in the coming months. The strong demand trends we recently observed in our Asia research further reinforce our confidence in holding onto tech stocks into the second half of 2026, with an even stronger growth trajectory ahead.” Market attention is now shifting to the first meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh at the Federal Reserve. Warsh is unlikely to submit his own rate forecast dot in the widely watched dot plot, breaking with the usual practice under Jerome Powell, Janet Yellen, and Ben Bernanke, and possibly changing the way the Fed communicates with markets.