Nvidia slips after poor guidance from one of its “great partners” and fears of chip export curbs

Chinese EV maker Nio jumped in premarket trading on Tuesday after it reported solid top- and bottom-line results, booking its first-ever quarter of positive (non-GAAP) operating profits, some 1,251 million yuan ($179 million), on a quarterly basis.

Nio reported adjusted net earnings of $0.04 per share in Q4, beating the $0.02 loss per share expected by Wall Street analysts (compiled by FactSet).

The company booked $4.95 billion in revenue, also topping the $4.86 billion consensus estimate, and deliveries came in at 124,807, up more than 70% year on year.

Looking ahead, the company says that it expects deliveries of vehicles “to be between 80,000 and 83,000 vehicles” in Q1 — an acceleration in growth, with those figures implying annual rises of 90% and 97% from the same quarter of 2025. However, Bloomberg estimates suggest this figure might marginally disappoint — with analysts currently penciling in 88,700 deliveries for Q1 2026.

Celebrating its first quarter of profits, CFO Stanley Yu Qu cited the company’s “strong delivery and revenue growth, an optimized product mix, and cost reduction and efficiency enhancement initiatives” in its press release.

CEO William Bin Li also added, “Looking ahead to 2026, we will continue to invest decisively in our twelve full-stack core technologies, launch new models, enhance the commercial and operational capabilities of our battery swapping and charging network, and continue upgrading our sales and service network.” Nio shares climbed in late February after it announced that it had reached 1 million battery swaps — its alternative to fast charging — in less than a week amid the Lunar New Year holiday. This month, Nio’s Chinese rival BYD unveiled a fast-charging battery seen as a direct challenge to the EV maker’s swap station network.

Oil prices dropped on Tuesday morning, with front-month crude futures down more than 6%, as traders digested President Trump’s comments late Monday suggesting the US-Iran conflict may soon end — easing fears that have rattled global energy and stock markets over the past 10 days.

On Monday, Trump told CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang in a phone interview that the war is “very complete, pretty much.” He later tempered that somewhat at a separate press conference held at Trump National Doral in Miami, saying the conflict would end “very soon,” though not this week.

Since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, markets have been experiencing relentless volatility: Brent crude surged to nearly $120 per barrel during Monday's trading session, the highest intraday price since the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. Gas prices, which largely track crude, even breached the $3.50 per gallon mark, with analysts and prediction markets eyeing the $4 mark as a real possibility if the conflict drags on.

Despite Tuesday’s pullback following Trump’s remarks, oil prices remain elevated, up roughly 50% since the start of the year as disruptions continue around the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil flows.

After turning a deeply red day into a green one yesterday, equity traders continued to breathe a tentative sigh of relief. After the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000 closed higher Monday, wiping out steep intraday losses, S&P 500 futures were modestly in the green early on Tuesday, while Europe’s Stoxx 600 rallied ~2%.

As of 9:07 a.m. ET, however, S&P 500 futures have dipped 0.22% and oil has pared some of its earlier losses, following comments from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s warning that today would be the “most intense day of strikes inside Iran.”

Go deeper: Why extreme oil price volatility sets off alarm bells for markets and the economy

Taiwan Semiconductor ticked higher in premarket trading on Tuesday after the chipmaker reported a 30% jump in sales for the first two months of 2026, compared to the year before.

A key supplier for AI industry giants like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, TSMC saw its combined January and February revenue grow to NT$718.9 billion ($22.6 billion), per its monthly revenue report, published early on Tuesday morning.

The company notched NT$317 billion in February alone, growing 22% from a year ago and decelerating from January’s 37% year-on-year growth. For the coming full Q1, analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg are anticipating growth of 33% — suggesting a strong March will be needed to meet that figure.

Charles Shum, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, noted that the modest weakness in the first two months is more likely due to softer performance in smartphones and PCs, rather than cooling AI chip demand, as soaring memory prices put pressure on shipments.