US stock futures fluctuated on Tuesday as investors braced for President Trump's fast-approaching deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes to destroy its key infrastructure.

Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) slid about 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, unwinding earlier slight premarket gains. Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) fell 0.6% after Wall Street stocks finished in positive territory on Monday.

Markets are on alert for any breakthrough on a Middle East truce as Trump's renewed deadline for Iran closes in, set to expire Tuesday evening. On Monday, the president backed away from a military ground operation to seize control of Iran's oil, acknowledging a lack of popular support. “Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home,” he told reporters.

Denting hopes, Axios reported that the US has carried out strikes on Kharg Island, home to Iran's major oil shipment facility. Oil prices turned higher, with Brent crude futures (BZ=F), the international benchmark, gaining about 1% to around $111 a barrel. Meanwhile, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) rose 2% to nearly $115.

My colleague Brian Sozzi highlighted a chart (below) that shows how "Magnificent Seven" stocks — Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA) — have had a tough start to 2026.

The chart from JPMorgan strategist Mislav Matejka shows that the Magnificent Seven stocks are hovering around fresh lows for the year relative to the S&P 500 (^GSPC).

"Mag 7 relative [to S&P 500] is not acting as a safe haven," Matejka said.

"The underperformance of the technology sector is also starting to generate attractive valuation opportunities for investors as its valuation, relative to expected consensus growth, has fallen below that of the global aggregate market," Goldman Sachs strategist Peter Oppenheimer wrote in a separate note on Tuesday.

Oppenheimer continued, "... In the US, the valuation premium of the technology hyperscalers has fallen to close to the same as the rest of the market."

Read more here.

Broadcom (AVGO) stock rose 3% before the bell on Tuesday following the news that it had signed an agreement with Google (GOOG) to develop and supply future generations of custom artificial intelligence chips. The tech company also signed a deal with Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) to provide the AI startup access to about 3.5 gigawatts of AI computing capacity.

US Health insurers: Humana (HUM) rose 10% during premarket hours on Tuesday, alongside UnitedHealth (UNH) and CVS (CVS) which both climbed around 5% after the government said ‌it plans a larger-than-expected increase in 2027 payment rates ‌for Medicare Advantage plans.

Universal ‌Music Group's (UMG.AS) Amsterdam shares rose 10% on Tuesday after Pershing Square's Bill Ackman proposed merging its acquisition vehicle with with a plan to list in the United States.

Apple's (AAPL) first foldable iPhone was expected by industry watchers to launch in 2026. But that timeframe could get pushed back as engineering tests revealed issues with the new model, per a Nikkei report.

From Reuters:

Apple has been encountering setbacks in the engineering test ‌phase of its first foldable iPhone, ‌which could lead to delays in its mass ​production and product shipment schedule, Nikkei Asia reported on Monday, citing sources.

... Engineering development issues could delay the ‌first shipments of ⁠the foldable iPhones by months in a worst-case scenario, according to the ⁠Nikkei report.

"It's true that more issues than expected have emergedduring the early test ​production phase, ​and additional time ​willbe needed to resolve ‌them and make necessary adjustments," the report said, quoting one source familiar with the matter.

Read more here.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) led crypto markets lower overnight as the US-Israeli war against Iran has spooked riskier investors amid sky-high global volatility.

Bloomberg reports:

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Read more here.