U.S. stock futures moved lower on Tuesday while oil prices remained above $110 per barrel, as investors closely watched U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire. Although Trump left the door open to diplomacy, he reiterated that the United States could launch strikes on key Iranian infrastructure—including bridges and power plants—if a deal is not reached by Tuesday evening. In corporate news, shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) surged after the chipmaker announced a new agreement with Google, while Samsung Electronics (USOTC:SSNHZ) reported strong preliminary earnings.
U.S. futures slip
U.S. equity futures declined early Tuesday as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of Trump’s deadline for Iran to accept a ceasefire agreement or risk major military strikes.
By 03:15 ET, Dow futures were down 104 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures had fallen 25 points, or 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were lower by 118 points, or 0.5%.
All three major Wall Street benchmarks closed the previous session in positive territory, as traders looked for signals of progress toward ending the conflict that has persisted for more than a month.
While developments in the Middle East remained the central focus for markets, the war’s potential impact on the U.S. economy also drew attention. Data showed the U.S. services sector grew more slowly than expected in March, a period covering much of the ongoing conflict. Employment in the sector declined, and prices paid—an indicator closely tied to inflation—rose to their highest level since October 2022.
At the same time, concerns persisted around the stability of the $1.8 trillion private credit market. Shares of Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OWL), which has become a focal point of these worries, fell to a record closing low after the company announced restrictions on redemptions from two of its funds following a surge in withdrawal requests.
Oil remains elevated
Oil prices continued to hold at high levels, with tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz still heavily restricted.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, were up 1.5% at $111.45 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 2.4% to $115.14 per barrel.
The Strait of Hormuz—an essential shipping route off Iran’s southern coast through which roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passes—has been largely closed to tanker movements for several weeks, raising fears about disruptions to global crude flows. Many Asian countries rely heavily on energy shipments passing through the strait, while several European nations depend on natural gas exports from the Persian Gulf.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Trump said any ceasefire agreement must include Iran’s commitment to reopen the waterway. If Tehran fails to meet the Tuesday deadline of 8 p.m. Eastern time, Trump warned the United States would strike bridges and power plants in Iran so severely that it would take the country “100 years to rebuild.”
Still, Trump indicated that a diplomatic outcome remains possible, saying Iran would “like to make a deal.”
Broadcom jumps after Google agreement
Broadcom shares climbed in extended trading after the semiconductor company signed a long-term agreement with Google to design and support custom artificial intelligence processors optimized for next-generation applications.
The company also said it will provide networking and other hardware components for Google’s AI infrastructure through 2031.
In a separate development, Broadcom agreed to supply AI startup Anthropic with access to around 3.5 gigawatts of computing capacity powered by Google’s AI processors starting next year.
Analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a client note that the new agreements suggest “upside risk to Broadcom’s” earlier projection of more than $100 billion in AI-related revenue by 2027.
Samsung posts strong preliminary earnings
Samsung Electronics projected a sharp increase in first-quarter profits on Tuesday, supported by surging demand for AI-related semiconductors that boosted its chip division.
The company said operating profit for the January–March period is expected to reach about 57.2 trillion won ($38 billion), more than eight times higher than the 6.69 trillion won recorded a year earlier.
Revenue is projected to total approximately 133 trillion won, compared with 79.14 trillion won in the same quarter last year.
The outlook highlights a powerful recovery in the memory chip market, particularly as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and other AI-focused semiconductors rises alongside the rapid growth of generative AI technologies.
Pershing Square bids for Universal Music Group
Elsewhere, shares of Universal Music Group (EU:UMG) surged more than 14% in Amsterdam after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital announced a proposal to acquire the music company in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at more than €55 billion.
Pershing Square said the deal would involve merging Universal with Pershing Square Sparc Holdings, creating a new Nevada-based company that would shift its stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange. Universal Music Group began trading in Amsterdam in 2021 following its spin-off from media conglomerate Vivendi (EU:VIV).
Ackman said in a statement that Universal’s stock price has “languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated” to the company’s underlying business performance and could be “addressed with this transaction.”
Shares of European media groups including Vivendi and Bollore (EU:BOL) also rallied after news of the takeover proposal.