S&P 500, Nasdaq End Lower, Futures Extend Declines As Attention Shifts To Tech Earnings, Geopolitics — TSLA, GOOGL, PSKY, RDDT, AMZN In Focus

• The S&P 500 ended 0.2% lower, while the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran is “not serious about talks.” 
• Brent crude prices briefly topped $95 a barrel. 

U.S. stock indices ended lower on Wednesday as oil prices spiked after the U.S. signaled that Iran was unwilling to return to the negotiations after both countries escalated attacks. 

The S&P 500 ended 0.2% lower, while the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat. The Russell 2000, which tracks stocks with small market capitalizations, fell 0.9%.

Among ETFs tracking benchmark indexes, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) slipped 0.3% and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ended Wednesday 0.8% lower, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) fell 0.1%. 

Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) made modest gains, up 0.5%, aided by strength in Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom (AVGO) shares. The broader Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) fell 0.4%, ahead of Alphabet earnings which beat earnings and revenue expectations shortly after market close while raising its capex outlook to $205 billion. 

Alphabet shares dropped about 5% after-hours as its capex plans fanned investor concerns of enough AI demand to absorb the bloated hyperscaler capex costs. 

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY dropped to the ‘extremely bearish’ zone, while sentiment for QQQ and DIA were in ‘neutral’ with ‘high’ message volumes.

Investors seemed to be growing increasingly uncomfortable with US-Iran war escalations. 

US Market Drivers

U.S. equity futures slipped on Wednesday evening as investors weighed fresh earnings, artificial intelligence spending concerns and rising oil prices.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 38 points. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.3% at the time of writing.

Brent crude futures rose about 3.4% to settle at $94.07 per barrel, hitting their highest levels in over a month and briefly topping $95. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed about 3% to close at $86.83, as per Koyfin data.

Following the eleventh consecutive round of U.S. military strikes against Iran, oil prices moved higher. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that Iran is “not serious about talks”.

Rubio emphasized the U.S. stance, stating, “If they’re serious, we’re serious. If they’re not, then we will do what is necessary to protect our interests and also the interests of our allies”. He further affirmed that American forces will continue safeguarding shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Investor attention moved towards mega-cap tech earnings with Alphabet and IBM posting their quarterly earnings in after-hours trading hours. Alphabet stock dropped about 5% after it raised its capex outlook while IBM  lowered its 2026 forecast and delivered thinner quarterly profits than analysts had projected. 

Moreover, Tesla’s (TSLA) earnings also fell short of expectations, pushing the stock 4% lower after-hours. 

Investors are growing increasingly jittery over bloated capex spending from hyperscalers and are looking for better justification for firms’ data center spends. 

“We remain constructive on AI’s growth story, but we favor a more balanced exposure across the AI value chain — from semiconductors and hardware to megacap tech and more defensive areas of the industry,” Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Chief Investment Office told Bloomberg. “Investors should also ensure diversification beyond AI.” 

Trending Stocks To Watch 

Tesla (TSLA): The company reported that its second-quarter adjusted earnings slipped by about 18% year-over-year despite growth in vehicle deliveries as it focuses on developing products in parallel segments, such as robotics.

Alphabet (GOOGL): The company reported Q2 earnings and revenue that surpassed expectations, led by strong cloud revenues, a jump in Gemini users, and unrealized securities gains, but the stock dropped after the company hiked its capex spending plans on an earnings call.   

Paramount Skydance (PSKY): European Union antitrust regulators cleared Paramount Skydance Corporation's (PSKY) proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). 

Reddit (RDDT): The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has considered shutting off Google’s access to the platform’s content for AI use.  

Amazon (AMZN): Amazon reduced staff within its artificial general intelligence division, marking the latest targeted job cuts as the tech giant refines its focus on high-impact projects.

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