Despite macro headwinds and trade tariff concerns, retail sentiment on Stocktwits flipped to ‘bullish’ on SPY and QQQ.
- Brent crude climbed toward $100 a barrel, adding to inflation concerns. Investors are also weighing Fed rate-hike odds and Canada’s retaliatory tariffs.
- U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged strikes over the weekend, while Iran has threatened further retaliation and shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed.
- Key inflation data is due this week, with the Producer Price Index on Thursday and Consumer Price Index data scheduled for Friday
U.S. stock futures were lower early Tuesday as Wall Street returned from the Labor Day holiday with investors parsing escalating military conflict in the Middle East, fresh tariff retaliation from Canada, and rate-hike concerns ahead of key inflation data and next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.
As of 4:00 a.m. ET, Dow futures fell 0.9%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.3%, and Russell 2000 futures were down 0.6%, while Nasdaq futures fell 0.1%.
However, on Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, flipped to ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish’ last week, and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, has remained ‘bullish.’
Oil Nears $100 As Iran Conflict Escalates
Brent crude oil prices jumped to their highest in three months, surging toward $100 a barrel as the U.S.-Iran conflict escalated over the long weekend. U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, prompting Iran’s IRGC to strike U.S.-linked vessels and threaten full-scale “economic warfare.”
Rising crude stokes inflation concerns. After Friday’s unexpectedly strong August nonfarm payrolls report, markets are now pricing in a greater than 50% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the Sept. 15-16 FOMC meeting.
Canada Retaliates With New US Tariffs
Canada has officially imposed retaliatory tariffs of 15% to 50% on about $20 billion of U.S. goods following the latest escalation in the trade dispute. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump threatened to block U.S. sales of Bombardier (BDRBF), prompting the Canadian jetmaker to highlight its multi-billion-dollar footprint and thousands of American manufacturing jobs.
Tech Stocks To Watch
Nvidia (NVDA): Shares rose marginally in early premarket trade as CEO Jensen Huang promoted Nvidia compute as a “fungible, durable, and highly rentable” money-minting asset.
Oracle (ORCL): Shares rose 3% in early premarket ahead of Thursday’s Q1 earnings report. Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $210 on GPUaaS cloud momentum.
Intel (INTC) shares surged 4% in early premarket trade after President Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself trading Intel stock, claiming he made “billions” for the country.
Micron Technology (MU): Maintained its move above the $1,000 milestone from last week amid an ongoing AI memory boom and tight DRAM capacity.
SanDisk (SNDK) extended its recent rally after its inclusion in the S&P 100 and amid stronger NAND pricing. Bernstein raised its price target to $1,250.
Trending Stocks
Tesla (TSLA): On the retail radar after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an audit query into approximately 1,000 Cybercab units on Friday.
Alibaba (BABA) shares slip more than 1% in early premarket trading as its AI spending bill draws investor scrutiny. Bernstein and BofA analysts remain split on the road ahead.
Baidu (BIDU) remained under pressure along with Chinese tech peers as mainland memory makers CXMT and YMTC stock up on ASML equipment ahead of global AI expansion.
Robinhood Markets (HOOD) has landed its first-ever major IPO underwriting role with smart-ring maker Oura, after receiving regulatory approval earlier this year.
Bloom Energy (BE): Soared 4% in early premarket following news of its scheduled inclusion in the S&P 500 index effective September 21. UBS has hiked its price target to $325.
Novo Nordisk (NVO) is in focus after announcing positive Phase 3 results for semaglutide in children with obesity, even as it separately halted two heart-disease drug trials involving ziltivekimab.
Birkenstock (BIRK): Michael Burry revealed a 5.2% stake and praised the brand in his Substack post.
XPeng (XPEV) is gaining attention after commissioning what it calls the world’s first automated humanoid-robot production line, targeting up to 1,000 units a month by year-end.
Sigma Lithium (SGML): Tumbled 9% in early premarket after a Brazilian court ruling on its licenses, though the company confirmed operational continuity and said it will stick to its expansion plans.
Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing included Oklo Inc (OKLO), Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), Boeing (BA), and United States Oil Fund (USO).
What Else To Watch Tuesday
On the economic front, investors will watch the release of the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index. Traders are looking ahead to August PPI (Thursday) and CPI (Friday) data.
On the earnings front, ABM Industries (ABM), United Natural Foods (UNFI), Braze (BRZE), ServiceTitan (TTAN), and GameStop (GME), among others, report today.
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