Live Nasdaq Composite: Market Sentiment Improves as Oil Prices Ease, Mideast Talk Hopes Rise

By Gerelyn Terzo Updated Jul 20, 12:47PM EDT · Published Jul 20, 9:37AM EDT

Quick Read

Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 1% Monday as Iran signaled diplomatic talks could resume, pushing oil down nearly 2% and easing inflation pressure on the Fed.
Tesla plans to ramp production at its German Gigafactory, while Morgan Stanley reiterated overweight ratings on Nvidia and Broadcom as top AI infrastructure plays.
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Live Updates

AI Roundup

10 hours ago

The AI buildout showed up on both sides of the market Monday: in debt financing and in chip-stock momentum. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) is reportedly looking to sell more than $12 billion of bonds to help finance a data-center campus in El Paso, Texas, according to Bloomberg, another sign that AI infrastructure is moving from equity-market theme to credit-market workload. Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) added the chip-side confirmation, rising 5% as its market value reclaimed the $1 trillion mark. Investors are still funding the AI boom, and the money is flowing through more than just NVIDIA.

AMD and MSFT Expand Partnership

12 hours ago

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) reportedly plans to use Advanced Micro Devices’ (Nasdaq: AMD) Helios in its data centers, joining Meta, OpenAI, Oracle, and others. AMD prepares to ship the system later this year. Helios is being pitched as a rival to NVIDIA’s Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin platforms, giving AMD a shot at moving from AI chip challenger to full-system contender.

Upcoming Tech Earnings

13 hours ago

Google parent Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOGL) and Elon Musk’s Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) will both be reporting earnings on Wednesday.

According to SEC filings, Duquesne Family Office’s Stanley Druckenmiller trimmed exposure to Alphabet in Q1 while adding to SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK), one of the market’s hottest AI memory trades.

This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.

In a pivot from last week’s sell-off, stocks pointed higher early Monday as easing oil prices and fresh hopes for Middle East negotiations gave markets room to breathe. S&P 500 futures rose 0.5%, Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 1%, and Dow futures added 203 points, or 0.4%, with chipmakers helping lead the early move.

The geopolitical backdrop remained tense after another round of U.S. strikes on Iran, but sentiment improved. Iran’s Foreign Ministry signaled that messages were still moving through intermediaries and that talks could resume if they served national interests. Oil reversed earlier gains on the diplomatic opening, with U.S. crude down 1.9% near $80.96 per barrel and Brent easing 1.2% to about $87.03. For now, the market is trading the possibility that the conflict stays contained and energy prices stop doing the tightening for the Fed.

Here’s a look at where things stand as of early morning trading:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 52,298 Up 0.23%
Nasdaq Composite: 25,762 up 0.95%
S&P 500: 7,502 Up 0.60%

Market Movers

BofA remains bullish on CoreWeave (Nasdaq: CRWV), maintaining a Buy rating with $140 target as the AI infrastructure buildout continues to move through the capex line. Analysts raised their FY26 capital spending estimate to $34 billion from $29 billion.

Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) added a manufacturing bright spot to the tape, with the company reportedly planning to ramp production at its Gigafactory in Germany.

Morgan Stanley analysts remain bullish on the hyperscaler AI trading, including Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) and Broadcom (Nasdaq: AVGO), reiterating their “overweight” ratings on both stocks and explaining, “This remains an unusual memory cycle, as data center strength is the only cause – which means that as we saw in April there are mixed signals elsewhere that may be a false flag. Memory isn’t the best risk reward in our coverage – which we think is NVDA/ AVGO – but it’s catching up fast.”

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About the Author Gerelyn Terzo →

Gerelyn Terzo is the author of dividend investing handbook "Dividend Investing Strategies: How to Have Your Cake & Eat It Too." A veteran financial journalist, she covers agri-finance for outlets like Global AgInvesting and the broader stock market and personal finance for 24/7 Wall Street. She began at CNBC and later helped launch Fox Business in New York. Gerelyn currently resides in Woodland Park, Colorado and dabbles in nature photography as a hobby.