Overview
- Markets traded cautiously but a bit firmer on Tuesday as investors braced for Nvidia's quarterly results due Wednesday after the close and weighed a recent semiconductor-led selloff.
- The U.S. Treasury has stepped in to calm long-term yields by expanding planned debt buybacks and may tap its near-$1 trillion General Account to fund those purchases, measures that briefly pushed yields lower.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a stepped-up economic pressure campaign on Iran that he described as entering an 'endgame,' raising geopolitical and market uncertainty for oil and risk assets.
- Investors are also watching Wednesday's PCE inflation read and Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole remarks on Friday for clues about the path of interest rates and how the Fed will respond to Treasury actions.
- Beyond Nvidia, a busy earnings calendar for software, retailers and other chipmakers will feed into how much hyperscaler AI spending and rising server and memory costs can support valuations and hiring plans.