U.S. stocks opened cautiously higher Tuesday, August 11, as fresh reports of possible progress toward a U.S.-Iran arrangement eased some of the pressure from surging oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened down 14.4 points, or 0.03%, at 53,961.60. The S&P 500 gained 14.4 points, or 0.19%, to 7,767.51, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 66.8 points, or 0.25%, to 26,672.18. Within the first half-hour, the Dow reversed higher by roughly 65 points, the S&P held a gain of about 0.1%, and the Nasdaq was near unchanged.
The immediate market driver is still the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude briefly pushed above $90 a barrel before retreating toward $87 after reports suggested the United States and Iran may be moving closer to an arrangement and Qatar said Iran-Oman negotiations were advanced. Oil had jumped more than 5% Monday as hopes for a quick agreement faded. Treasury yields also moved lower Tuesday morning, giving some support to stocks.
Tuesday’s morning economic data was light but encouraging. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index jumped to 99.8 in July from 97.4, beating the 97.0 consensus and reaching its highest level in roughly 11 months. Hiring intentions strengthened, but labor shortages remain a problem: 36% of owners reported positions they could not fill, while inflation fell sharply as a top concern. The National Association of Realtors’ July existing-home-sales report was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. ET; its official release page had not yet posted the July figure at the cutoff for this recap, so JBizNews is not assuming a number.
Individual stocks are moving much more sharply than the indexes. Riot Platforms surged roughly 17% after announcing a 20-year computing agreement valued at about $9.1 billion to supply 191 megawatts of capacity to a major AI company reported to be Anthropic. On Holding fell roughly 16% after missing second-quarter sales expectations and cutting its full-year forecast, while Hims & Hers dropped about 7% following a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.
Healthcare and business-services earnings are providing some upside. Cardinal Health rose about 8% in early trading after beating quarterly profit expectations and forecasting fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings of $12.40 to $12.60 a share, above the roughly $12.04 Wall Street consensus. Aramark gained about 8% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue. Intel remained slightly lower after increasing its newly announced stock sale to $20 billion from $15 billion, pricing approximately 210.5 million shares at $95 apiece to raise money for capital spending and other corporate purposes.
For the rest of Tuesday, oil and Iran headlines remain the fastest-moving risk for the market. Investors will also watch the New York Fed’s second-quarter household debt and credit report at 11:00 a.m. ET. After the closing bell, AI-linked companies Super Micro Computer, CoreWeave and Lumentum are scheduled to report earnings, giving investors another read on whether enormous AI infrastructure spending is translating into revenue.
The larger test arrives Wednesday morning. July CPI is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET, with economists looking for headline inflation of roughly 3.4% year over year, down from 3.5% in June. After Friday’s weak employment report, a softer inflation number could strengthen the argument for the Federal Reserve to remain on hold in September; a hotter number, particularly after the recent oil spike, could quickly push Treasury yields higher and pressure richly valued technology stocks.
JBizNews Desk | Wall Street
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