Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq climb amid Apple CEO change and Iran uncertainty

LIVE Updated 13 mins ago

Updated 2 min read

US stocks rallied on Tuesday as investors assessed signs of tentative progress toward new US-Iran truce talks and weighed Tim Cook’s exit as Apple (AAPL) CEO.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led gains, up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) held flat on the heels of mild closing losses for Wall Street stocks.

President Trump said US negotiators are ready to leave for Pakistan to resume talks. Earlier, Trump signaled that the US doesn’t plan to extend its temporary ceasefire with Iran, which is set to expire late Wednesday. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, the president said he’s looking for a deal but that, “I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with.”

Tehran has signaled that it will send negotiators, though it is not yet clear who from the regime will attend after days of reluctance from Iran on going to the table. International oil prices rose while US prices fell amid signals that both sides are sending teams.

Meanwhile, Wall Street is digesting the changing of the guard at Apple, which will see Cook step down and hand over the CEO role to hardware engineering head John Ternus. The iPhone maker’s stock slipped 0.9% in the first minutes of Tuesday trading after the late Monday news.

The wait is now on for the Senate confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh on Tuesday morning. In prepared remarks, the Federal Reserve chair nominee indicated that the push-and-pull between Trump and the central bank may be coming to an end. Largely absent were any firm statements on the outlook for interest rates.

On the earnings front, results from United Airlines (UAL) will be watched for the impact of war-stoked rising fuel costs.

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US retail sales rose by more than expected in March as high gas prices stemming from the war in Iran didn’t detract from spending, and larger tax refunds boosted purchases.

Retail sales jumped 1.7% last month from an upwardly revised ‌0.7% gain in February, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday. Wall Street economists were expecting a 1.3% rise in retail sales.

Reuters reports:

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Avis Budget Group (CAR) appears to be facing a short squeeze.

Shares of the car rental agency were up another 6% on Tuesday following a 23% surge on Monday. Over the past month, the stock is up 500%.

The short interest in Avis as a percentage of shares outstanding currently stands at 25%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. That figure represents the portion of shares that are currently sold short and not yet covered: a ratio above 10% is considered high, while one above 20% is considered extreme, with a high risk of a short squeeze.

According to Deutsche Bank research analyst Chris Woronka, the squeeze was triggered at the beginning of the month by filings that showed two investors, SRS and Pentwater, controlled 71% of shares. When synthetic ownership is factored in, the two investors effectively controlled 108% of Avis shares.

“Recall that CAR’s stock itself is actually no stranger to sharp rallies,” Woronka wrote on April 6. “On November 2, 2021 its shares more than doubled, from $163 to $357 (the intra-day high was $545) on the heels of a strong earnings report and, more importantly (in our view), a disclosure that the company had repurchased 16% of its shares during the fiscal 3Q of 2021.”
Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi writes:

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Stocks are trading at record highs. But this new high-water mark for the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) has not been met with resounding enthusiasm or relief.

Yahoo Finance’s Myles Udland writes:

Read more here in today’s takeaway from the Morning Brief.
Amazon (AMZN) said it will invest an additional $5 billion in Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) and could inject another $20 billion over time, in a cloud deal that strengthens ties in an increasingly competitive AI race.

Shares of Amazon rose 2.7% before the bell after the news.

Reuters reports:

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Bloomberg reports:

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Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:

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