Daily Summary: Buyers Refuse to Give In

USA

• During Tuesday’s session, we saw a sharp shift in sentiment from negative to positive. US indices, which opened with significant losses of more than 1%, quickly reversed and moved into gains. Particularly strong advances were visible in US2000 futures, up around 1.5%. Strong gains among highly leveraged small caps may suggest that the shift in sentiment is driven more by the cost of capital than by the pace of economic growth itself.
• The abrupt turnaround in sentiment may have been linked to a Reuters report indicating that OpenAI is planning another large funding round. OpenAI’s strategy appears to run counter to Anthropic’s plans and would imply an attempt to raise more funding and remain private for longer, which, paradoxically, may be viewed as a show of strength by the company and by the corporate debt market.
• Fleeting but meaningful signals are also coming from the Middle East. Teams from Qatar and Pakistan are reportedly set to make another attempt to end or de-escalate the conflict between the US and Iran.
• Healthcare and financials are leading the gains. The defense sector and retailers are also performing well. The technology sector remains more cautious. Bonds are seeing slightly lower yields; by the end of the session, US 10-year yields are around 5.129%.
• After the close, the market is waiting for reports from Netflix and SpaceX.

Company news, USA

• 3M (MMM.US): Shares gained about 5% after the company raised its full-year profit forecast and expanded cooperation with Amazon in the data center area.
• Equifax (EFX.US): The stock rose about 10% after quarterly results significantly beat analysts’ expectations.
• General Motors (GM.US): Shares fell more than 5%. The full-year outlook disappointed the market despite solid results.
• Braze (BRZE.US): The stock jumped about 51% after the company announced it would be acquired by Salesforce.
• CoreWeave (CRWV.US): The shares remain extremely volatile. After an initial drop of more than about 6%, the stock briefly gained around 5%, then pared the move to roughly 3% to 4%.
• Strategy (): The “treasury” style company rose about 6% after announcing additional Bitcoin purchases.

Europe

• European markets remain under pressure. Earlier in the session, the STOXX 600 was down about 0.7%. Alongside the sell-off in technology stocks, pressure is coming from France’s fiscal problems and protests hampering the implementation of budget reforms. The yield on French 10-year bonds reached around 4.96%.
• Expectations for the earnings season remain high. According to data cited by Reuters, STOXX 600 companies’ profits are expected to grow in Q3 by more than 20% year over year.

Company news, Europe

• ABB: Shares were down more than 5% in morning trading despite a 40% increase in orders. Strong demand tied to data centers was not enough to overcome caution toward AI-related names.
• Siemens: In morning trade, the company fell about 4%, participating in the broader sell-off in European industry linked to tech infrastructure.

Forex

• The dollar is moderately weaker. EURUSD is up about 0.15% to 0.2% today.
• Among the stronger currencies, the pound stands out: GBP/USD gained around 0.6%. Support came from unexpectedly strong UK labor market data, reinforcing expectations of another Bank of England rate hike.

Commodities

• Oil remains highly volatile. After a morning rise that took Brent above USD 111 per barrel, prices reversed. The improvement in sentiment was accompanied by media reports about a proposal to resume US-Iran talks. By the end of the trading day, oil had normalized and Brent was hovering around USD 109 per barrel.
• Moderately warmer weather forecasts in key US regions led to lower gas prices. US natural gas is down more than 2.5% and fell below the psychological USD 3 level.
• Goldman Sachs published a forecast calling for a significant rise in copper prices. The year-end price is expected to hover around USD 14,700, while the average price in 2027 is projected to exceed USD 15,000 per ton.

Crypto

• Following equity indices, the crypto market quickly emerged from the lethargy that characterized the first half of the session.
  • Bitcoin ends the day up about 0.8%, above USD 82,500.
  • Ethereum gains nearly 2%, reaching about USD 2,440.
  • Solana posts similar gains, trading around USD 106 by the end of the day.