Stock Market Today (LIVE): War Fears Spike Oil Above $100; Celsius Drops 10%. Is Costco a Threat?

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4:02pm

Brent crude climbed back above $100 as Middle East tensions escalated and hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough dimmed, injecting fresh uncertainty into markets. Stocks stalled after Monday’s rally, with the Nasdaq slipping and the S&P 500 flat, as investors weighed conflicting signals on U.S.-Iran talks and the risk of broader regional involvement. Energy stocks led, while rising yields and a stronger dollar added pressure across sectors.

3:49 pm — FOUR +17.76%

By Buck Hartzell

Shift4 (FOUR +19.24%) is up 20% today as I type this. There is no news to report. I have a few thoughts on the stock movement.

We know this. Someone is buying shares today, and they are buying quite a lot.

3:27 pm — CELH -8.36%, COST +0.91%

By Sanmeet DeoTeam Rule Breakers

Costco (COST +0.82%) just jolted the beverage market, launching a 200mg-caffeine Kirkland Signature energy drink. Investors panicked, sending Celsius (CELH 6.08%) stock tumbling 9% on fears of lost market share and multiple compression. But let’s take a breath! While I haven’t taste-tested Costco’s brew yet, Celsius boasts a massive moat: deep domestic and international distribution, plus strong footholds in fitness centers and Amazon (AMZN 1.45%). This drop looks like a classic market overreaction. I still firmly believe in Celsius’s long-term growth story. Keep your eyes on the long game!

2:30 pm — ICE -0.39%

The New York Stock Exchange, owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE 0.88%), is partnering with Securitize to build a blockchain-based platform for tokenized stocks and ETFs, according to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday. The proposed system would enable 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and funding via stablecoins—bypassing traditional clearinghouses. The move follows Nasdaq’s (NDAQ 2.52%) own token push but takes a different route: issuing and settling securities directly on-chain. For investors, the key question is whether “native” tokenized shares can deliver full shareholder rights—unlike many current offshore offerings that behave more like derivatives.

2:06 pm — META -1.55%

Meta Platforms (META 1.91%) is putting CTO Andrew Bosworth in charge of its “AI For Work” push, aiming to embed AI tools across its 78,000-person workforce, according to an internal memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The effort targets faster execution, fewer management layers, and more “AI-native” teams, as Meta competes with leaner AI start-ups. The move follows metaverse cutbacks and signals a broader shift toward AI infrastructure, internal agents, and large language model development to reshape how employees work day to day.

1:00 pm — MSFT -2.5%

Microsoft (MSFT 2.68%) President Brad Smith warned at the CERAWeek conference that winning over local communities is now "paramount" to scaling AI infrastructure. As Big Tech’s data centers drive up electricity demand and utility bills, towns in the Midwest and Northeast have begun canceling developments over pollution and water impact. This grassroots friction threatens the aggressive expansion plans of cloud giants, potentially bottlenecking the hardware growth required for generative AI. For investors, this shift elevates community relations from a PR exercise to a critical operational risk that could delay multi-billion dollar capital projects and impact long-term service delivery.

1:05 pm — AMZN -1.1%

Software stocks dropped sharply Tuesday after a report that Amazon's (AMZN 1.45%) AWS division is developing AI agents to automate sales, cybersecurity, and server networking functions -- work currently handled by thousands of human technical specialists and the software tools they rely on. An ETF tracking software stocks fell as much as 4.4% today, its biggest single-day drop in a month.

12:35 pm

Anthropic heads to federal court Tuesday seeking an injunction to halt a Pentagon "supply chain risk" designation and a directive from President Trump banning federal use of its Claude AI. The startup, which signed a $200 million defense contract last July, warns it faces "reputational and economic" ruin if the blacklist continues. The outcome carries heavy implications for partners like Amazon (AMZN 1.45%) and Microsoft (MSFT 2.68%), which host Anthropic’s models. Meanwhile, Palantir Technologies (PLTR 3.83%) continues to utilize Claude for military operations despite the designation, highlighting the reliance of current defense infrastructure on the embattled AI lab during the ongoing conflict with Iran.

12:10 pm — AAPL +0.8%

Apple (AAPL +0.06%) is officially invading Alphabet’s (GOOG 3.25%) territory, announcing that paid ads will hit Apple Maps in the U.S. and Canada this summer. The move weaponizes a pre-installed app on hundreds of millions of iPhones to capture local advertising revenue. While Apple insists its privacy-first model remains intact—keeping personal data on-device and unlinked to Apple accounts—the strategy signals a pivot as traditional services revenue faces regulatory headwinds in Europe. This expansion puts Apple in direct competition with Meta Platforms (META 1.91%) for localized marketing budgets just as artificial intelligence begins to reshape the search landscape.

11:10 am — GAP +2.2%

Gap (GAP +3.10%) is pioneering "agentic commerce" through an exclusive partnership with Google (GOOG 3.25%), allowing customers to purchase apparel directly within the Gemini AI interface. This integration enables shoppers to discover and buy items — like wedding attire or interview outfits — using conversational AI without being redirected to Gap’s website. By providing curated data directly to Gemini, Gap maintains control over product accuracy and customer information. While early iterations lack loyalty point integration, the move positions Gap ahead of specialty retail peers, leveraging Google Pay to capture the growing segment of users migrating from traditional search to AI-driven discovery.

11:45 am — UAL +0.3%

United Airlines (UAL 0.44%) is aggressively shrinking its economy section to make room for high-margin premium cabins, unveiling new layouts for its Airbus A321neo and A321XLR fleets. The carrier’s new "Coastliner" configuration features 20 lie-flat Polaris suites on narrowbody jets, targeting transcontinental travelers willing to pay over $5,000 per seat. This shift mirrors a broader industry trend seen at Delta Air Lines (DAL +2.33%) and JetBlue (JBLU 0.12%), as premium revenue growth consistently outpaces standard coach sales. Despite Boeing (BA 1.08%) delivery delays, United is even upscaling its smallest regional jets, proving that in the current high-fuel environment, every inch of cabin real estate must be monetized.

9:50 am — SFD +4.6% in pre-market trading

By Bill Barker

Smithfield Foods (SFD +4.26%) shares are up over 7% in pre-market trading this morning after the pork giant delivered a fourth-quarter double beat, reporting $0.83 in adjusted earnings per share on $4.23 billion in revenue. The solid report serves as another partial macroeconomic bellwether, highlighting the resilience of a "cautious consumer" who is aggressively trading down from expensive restaurant dining to premium at-home meals.

Furthermore, as retail beef prices remain near record highs due to tight cattle herds, shoppers are actively substituting pricey beef with more affordable pork products. Smithfield capitalized heavily on this trade-down effect, with its flagship Packaged Meats segment crossing the $1 billion operating profit mark for the fourth consecutive year.

8:30 am — TSLA -0.46% in pre-market trading

By Morning Show host Emily Flippen, CFATeam Rule Breakers

Shares of Tesla (TSLA +0.44%) have been under a bit of pressure in the past few days, in part because HSBC analyst Michael Tyndall recently cut his price target for shares to $119 and maintained a "reduce" rating for investors. It's the lowest price target for this otherwise outperforming business among major banks, and the argument is something bears will already be familiar with: demand for newer, low-priced models will not offset weakening global demand for electric vehicles, especially when competition is intensifying globally.

While this is certainly one fair and well-reasoned perspective, it's also fair to say that Tesla shareholders, and other major investors, have never really viewed the business as a car company.

10:20 am — AMZN -1.1%

Amazon (AMZN 1.45%) is accelerating its autonomous ambitions as its Zoox unit prepares to launch robotaxis in Austin and Miami later this year. Currently operating in Las Vegas and San Francisco, Zoox has served 350,000 riders but has yet to transition to a paid commercial model. CEO Aicha Evans confirmed the company is ready to begin charging fares pending NHTSA approval for a 2,500-vehicle fleet. While trailing Alphabet (GOOG 3.25%) unit Waymo — which logs 400,000 paid trips weekly — Zoox is scaling up through a strategic partnership with Uber (UBER 3.70%) to integrate its toaster-shaped, pedal-less vehicles into the ride-hailing app by summer.

9:35 am

U.S. equities retreated Tuesday, paring nearly half of Monday’s 800-point surge as the Dow fell 385 points. While the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both dropped 0.7%, investor optimism over an "imminent" peace deal was checked by Iranian state media denying any direct negotiations with Washington. The confusion sent Brent crude back above $101 per barrel, erasing the "war premium" discount seen yesterday. Strategists warn that until the Strait of Hormuz is reliably reopened, the market remains a "coiled spring" vulnerable to headlines, with energy price volatility continuing to threaten corporate margins and the broader disinflationary trend.

8:15 am -- FDX -0.15% in pre-market trading

FedEx (FDX +1.10%) has officially launched FedEx SameDay Local, a new high-speed shipping program in partnership with AI-logistics firm OneRail. The move is a direct counter to Amazon's (AMZN 1.45%) recent rollout of