MARKET SNAPSHOT
U.S. stocks were mostly lower as volatility in the technology sector continued to dominate trading as Monday's brief rebound stalled. Treasury yields and oil prices fell ahead of U.S. inflation data and despite lingering tension in the Middle East. Gold and silver futures fell and the dollar was little changed.
MARKET WRAPS
EQUITIES
A nascent tech rebound. An abrupt slide. In a session that has had a bit of everything, stocks finished well off their session lows.
Tech stocks continue to weigh on indexes, with the Nasdaq composite down 1% at the 4 p.m. ET close. But indexes were off far more at about 12:40 p.m. ET, when they started paring losses. (The Nasdaq was down more than 3% at its low point.)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.2%, while the S&P 500 ended down 0.3%.
Analysts gave a variety of reasons for the day's volatile trading: Investors taking profits from the big tech runup. Worries about interest rates. Some noted that SpaceX expects to list its stock later this week, and the prospect of another trillion-dollar-plus company hitting the market may be causing investors to reposition at the expense of other major tech names.
Chip stocks remained a pressure point, even after stocks recovered ground. The same companies that have stoked stocks' recent gains are posting big losses, highlighting concerns that only a small group of stocks have powered recent records.
Earlier Tuesday, chip-related stocks rebounded in Asia after a market rout in the previous session.
Semiconductor stocks helped South Korean and Taiwan markets to stage a comeback. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which account for about half of South Korea's Kospi market capitalization, jumped 9.0% and 16%, respectively. In Taiwan, MediaTek surged 10% and Delta Electronics advanced 7.1%. The Kospi ended 8.2% higher and Taiwan's Taiex advanced 2.8%.
Chinese technology companies are showing clearer AI monetization, based on first-quarter results, according to Daiwa's John Choi and Lily Liu. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.3%. The Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 2.4% and the tech-focused ChiNext Price Index leapt 3.9%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, however, slipped 0.4%, despite the Hang Seng Tech Index ending a four-session losing streak.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 2.2% as Tokyo Electron jumped 8.9% and Kioxia Holdings was 6.4% higher.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index slipped 0.2% to open the week while New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 1.3%.
COMMODITIES
Oil futures ended a choppy session lower with the market keeping hopes alive for a deal to end the Middle East conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz soon.
President Trump's post saying the U.S. will respond to Iran's shooting down an Apache helicopter sent prices spiking briefly into the black.
Iran's foreign minister posted on X that foreign forces close to Iran's territory are at risk on account of "their own human errors," accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire. "We prefer the language of diplomacy but speak other languages too," he wrote.
WTI settled down 3.4% at $88.20 a barrel and Brent fell 3% to $91.45.
President Trump's post sent precious metal futures lower.
The incident and the threat of retaliation is giving fuel to the idea that interest rate hikes are more likely to curb rising inflation stemming from the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Front-month gold futures have breached a 200-day moving average, said Suki Cooper of Standard Chartered Bank. "We expect price action to become more vulnerable in the near term, driven by macro headwinds," said Cooper.
Gold finished down 1.8% to $4,260/oz, while silver fell 4.9% to $65.094/oz.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Trump Says U.S. Must Respond After Confirming Iran Shot Down Apache Helicopter
President Trump on Tuesday accused Iran of shooting down a U.S. Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, leading to an unprecedented rescue operation and prompting Trump to threaten a response.
The downing of the aircraft late Monday set off a race to find two American crew members who had escaped the Apache, a small attack helicopter that doesn't have ejection seats. They were rescued by a U.S. drone boat in a first-of-its-kind operation at sea.
"I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said on Truth Social. "There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack."
U.S. Trade Deficit Nearly Flat in April
America's trade deficit was close to unchanged in April, adding to evidence that the Trump administration's tariffs have done little to rebalance the U.S.'s trade position with the rest of the world.
Imports in April grew by 2% to $383 billion, while exports rose by 2.6% to $327.1 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That yielded an April trade deficit of $55.9 billion, down about 1.2% versus the March level. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting an April deficit of $56.1 billion.
As buildout of U.S. AI infrastructure continues, imports of semiconductors rose by $1.7 billion and computer imports climbed by $2.2 billion. Meanwhile, exports of aircraft rose by $1 billion versus March. With the Iran conflict rupturing global energy markets, U.S. crude oil exports rose by $6.4 billion.
May Home Sales Notched Their Biggest Rise This Year
Home sales in May posted the biggest rise this year, a sign that the housing market's crucial spring selling season may be showing signs of life after a sluggish start.
Sales of existing homes rose 3.2% in May over the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million, the biggest increase since December, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.
The May sales number trounced expectations. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast only a 0.7% increase.
Anthropic Releases New 'Mythos-Class' Model to General Public With Guardrails
Anthropic is releasing a next-generation "Mythos-class" model to the general public with guardrails that remove dangerous capabilities related to areas such as cybersecurity and biological research.
Called Claude Fable 5, the large language model will mostly let users query Mythos, which the company previously deemed was too dangerous for general release. However, if users ask Fable about sensitive issues such as a bioweapon or exploiting a software bug, it will kick them back to the older Opus 4.8 version of the Claude chatbot.
Fable 5 will cost more than Opus 4.8, but it will also do a better job of remembering things. That will make it better at completing large, complex tasks with fewer instructions, said Dianne Penn, Anthropic's head of product management, research and labs.
GSK to Buy Nuvalent for $10.6 Billion in Oncology Push
GSK agreed to buy U.S. cancer-drug developer Nuvalent for $10.6 billion, the British pharmaceutical company's latest move to bolster its oncology business.
The acquisition is set to give GSK two drug candidates for lung cancer that are currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as a third, earlier-stage medicine, the London-based company said Tuesday.
The deal comes as GSK works to rebuild its position in the market for cancer treatments, one of the most lucrative areas of the pharmaceuticals industry. GSK exited oncology in 2015 as part of a broader asset-swap deal with Switzerland's Novartis. The company has since returned to the market with the acquisitions of Tesaro, Sierra Oncology and IDRx as well as licensing deals.
Expected Major Events for Wednesday
01:30/CHN: May CPI
01:30/CHN: May PPI
08:59/JPN: Jun Monthly Economic Report
23:00/SKA: May Economically Active Population Survey, including Unemployment
23:50/JPN: 2Q Business Outlook Survey
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 09, 2026 16:57 ET (20:57 GMT)
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