Markets
Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

US stocks stage Herculean comeback to finish positive

US stocks started the session battered by a double whammy of negative economic news and concerns about AI demand.

At their lows of the morning, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were each down more than 2%. But stocks managed to hurdle those challenges over the course of the day and accelerated into the close, perhaps buoyed by month-end rebalancing activity.

When the dust settled, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ended in positive territory, while the Russell 2000 had a 0.6% decline.

It’s the biggest intraday loss the benchmark US stock index has erased to finish positive since October 13, 2022. That’s the day the bull market began.

Most S&P 500 sector ETFs rose, with healthcare, consumer staples, and industrials leading the way up. Energy was the massive laggard, tumbling 2.7%.

Some of the big gainers included Seagate, Trane, and Western Digital, all on earnings, which have generally surprised to the upside in a big way so far this reporting period.

But there were also some negative reports of note:

Norwegian Cruise Line shares sank after the cruise operator missed first-quarter estimates, as both ticket sales and onboard spending cooled.

Etsy shares slid nearly 6%, even after the craft-based online marketplace posted solid Q1 revenue, but swung to a loss after taking on charges from the sale of its instrument marketplace, Reverb.

Shares of Oddity Tech surged 30% after the AI-savvy beauty company delivered a standout Q1, easily topping expectations and skirting tariff fears.

Snap shares tumbled — despite beating analyst expectations yesterday — after the social media app warned that de minimis shipping changes may already be hurting its advertising business.

Shares of First Solar, the largest US manufacturer of solar panels and modules, fell about 8% after the company said it expects to pay up to $90 million in tariffs this year.

Starbucks slumped after posting a revenue and earnings miss along with a larger decline in same-store sales than analysts had penciled in.

Super Micro was the biggest sore spot on a sunny day, falling double digits after it released quarterly results that fell far short of expectations.

Shares of Jeep maker Stellantis and luxury giant Mercedes-Benz slipped after both automakers pulled their full-year guidance, citing volatility in trade policy.

More Markets

See all Markets
markets
Max Knoblauch

Nike’s China business declines for seventh straight quarter

Sportswear kingpin Nike reported results for its third quarter, which ended in February, after the bell Tuesday. The stock fell about 3% in after-hours trading.

For fiscal Q3, Nike reported:

  • Earnings of $0.35 per share, comfortably above the Wall Street consensus of $0.29 per share compiled by FactSet.

  • $11.28 billion in total revenue, roughly in line with the $11.26 billion estimate.

Nike’s sales in China — where the company earns about 15% of its revenue — fell 7% to $1.62 billion. That’s its seventh straight quarter of sales declines in the market, though this quarter’s was less than feared. The company had issued weak guidance for this quarter considering continued softness in the region.

“This quarter we took meaningful actions to improve the health and quality of our business,” said Nike CEO Elliott Hill. “The pace of progress is different across the portfolio and the areas we prioritized first continue to drive momentum.”

Nike shares are trading near decade lows this month, as tariffs continue to weigh on profits and shipping costs rise amid the war with Iran. As of Tuesday’s close, the stock was down 17% year to date.

Luke Kawa, Tasha Matsumoto
7h
Stocks end worst quarter since 2022 with best day since May

Optimism that the end of the war may be near sent stocks surging.

Group of bulls being herded
Max Knoblauch

Oil-sensitive travel stocks pop following Iran state media reporting on potential war resolution

Travel stocks are surging on Tuesday as oil prices fall following reports from Iranian state media that President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country has “the necessary will to end this war,” but would only do so with guarantees that “prevent the recurrence of aggression.”

The war has sent oil prices and refining margins surging this month, causing airlines and cruise lines to cut profit forecasts despite reported high demand.

Following Tuesday’s update, shares of the big four US airlines (Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines) all climbed, along with smaller rivals including JetBlue. US airlines have stopped fuel hedging in recent years, increasing their exposure to upward swings in oil prices.

Cruise stocks also rallied, with Carnival and Norwegian up more than 6% and Royal Caribbean up about 5%.

markets
J. Edward Moreno

The FDA is expected to lift restrictions on certain peptides, the NYT reports

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to lift restrictions on certain peptides, allowing the experimental, often injectable substances to be sold by compounding pharmacies, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The potential move was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, and teased by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in late February.

Peptides have boomed in popularity recently, with search interest for “peptides” surpassing “ozempic” this month. Many of them are currently understudied and not approved for human use, a rule consumers are able to bypass by purchasing them from suppliers that sell them for, ostensibly, research purposes only.

As reports of the FDA changing its stance of peptides mount, consumer health companies like Hims & Hers and Superpower have been getting ready to roll out their peptide offerings as soon as they get the FDA's blessing.

The peptide gold rush: How impending deregulation could supercharge a shadow industry

The peptide gold rush: How impending deregulation could supercharge a shadow industry

Peptides have boomed in popularity recently, with search interest for “peptides” surpassing “ozempic” this month. Many of them are currently understudied and not approved for human use, a rule consumers are able to bypass by purchasing them from suppliers that sell them for, ostensibly, research purposes only.

As reports of the FDA changing its stance of peptides mount, consumer health companies like Hims & Hers and Superpower have been getting ready to roll out their peptide offerings as soon as they get the FDA's blessing.

markets
Matt Phillips

Memory stocks bounce as Bernstein analyst calls TurboQuant fears “overdone”

Memory stocks rose Tuesday, after Bernstein analysts called the recent panic over Google’s TurboQuant AI algorithm “overdone.”

Bernstein analyst Mark Newman wrote:

“[Hard disk drive] and Memory stocks have sold off significantly due in part to fears from Google’s TurboQuant report. This however, should have zero impact on HDD demand and negligible impact on NAND demand. Given the stock sell-off we see this as an attractive entry point for Seagate Technology Holdings, Western Digital and Sandisk’s and upgrade WDC to Outperform.”

All three stocks were up early Tuesday, as was memory chip maker Micron.

Today’s rally stands in stark contrast to the pummeling these shares have endured over the last week, after Google Research published a technical paper on March 24 detailing its TurboQuant AI algorithm, which compresses the amount of data associated with AI operations without affecting the accuracy of AI models.

That was seen as a threat to surging AI demand for memory storage, which has supercharged prices for memory chips and memory-related stocks over the last year.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC. Futures and event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC