On Tuesday, the Nasdaq Composite rose as investors bought back key technology stocks after recent pressure and positioned for the U.S. midterm election results.
The Nasdaq gained 0.8%, recovering part of its recent losses. The Nasdaq 100 also rose 0.7% but remained in correction territory, still about 10% below its recent high. The S&P 500 added 0.4%, while the Dow fell nearly 200 points, or 0.4%, dragged down by Apple. Apple dropped nearly 2% after the iPhone maker released a disappointing margin forecast late Monday and reported fiscal fourth-quarter iPad sales that missed Wall Street expectations.
In contrast, chipmaker stocks advanced. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 4% ahead of its third-quarter results due after the close, and Broadcom gained more than 3%. Micron Technology and Nvidia each climbed more than 2%.
Tuesday's gains reversed Monday's pullback. On Monday, the Nasdaq fell more than 1%, extending the recent declines in the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 into a third day. Meanwhile, oil prices turned lower on speculation that U.S.-Iran talks could make progress. Brent crude settled down 1.12% at $103.60 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures settled down 0.38% at $96.09 a barrel.
On Election Day, investors also watched Tuesday's midterm elections, which will determine which party controls the House and Senate starting in January. Prediction market traders saw the Democrats' chances of winning the Senate at close to 75%. If investors have not yet positioned for that outcome, a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate could weigh on the broader market on Wednesday, potentially triggering a selloff in artificial intelligence stocks in particular.
JPMorgan said this week that markets could see a short-term rally if Republicans retain control of the Senate or both chambers. Even with President Donald Trump in the White House, Democrats winning either the House or the Senate could affect investigations and oversight in Washington — a development crucial for sectors such as defense, artificial intelligence and healthcare. Snyder of Potomac Fund said markets could still move higher after the election regardless of the outcome. "What you're seeing is the AI trade that has already been hit," he said. "Add in the idea that midterm election uncertainty is fading, and that likely means a relief rally no matter the result."
Goldman Sachs sharply raised its global data center capacity forecast, saying capital expenditure could reach $8.5 trillion over the next five years. Goldman Sachs said it updated its global data center capacity forecast based on the latest data from the 451 Research database. It now expects global data center supply to reach 273 GW by 2030, compared with a forecast of 217 GW in its previous update in July 2026. That implies an additional 170 GW of capacity after 2025, with net new capacity of 25 GW, 32 GW and 35 GW in 2026, 2027 and 2028, respectively. Goldman Sachs expects the pace of net new data center capacity to remain steady in the medium term. Based on the rule of thumb of $50 billion of investment per GW, that 170 GW of new capacity implies capital expenditure of $8.5 trillion over the next five years. At the same time, Goldman Sachs noted that IT infrastructure costs continue to face upward pressure.
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