By Sabrina Escobar

Redemption Arc. Stocks staged a comeback on Tuesday, nearly erasing some of Monday's steep losses.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed a hair shy from Friday's close, just 0.3% and 0.1% lower, respectively.

The S&P rose 0.8% on the day, the Nasdaq gained 1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.8%.

Consumer discretionary, industrials, tech, and utilities all gained more than 1% on Tuesday, while energy and healthcare lagged behind.

That said, tech was still the star of the show. Advanced Micro Devices announced a long-term deal to supply Meta Platforms with six gigawatts of GPUs. AMD also awarded Meta a performance-based warrant for up to 160 million AMD shares, or a roughly 10% stake in the company. And Apple said it would boost U.S. manufacturing by making the Mac Mini in Houston.

Importantly, Anthropic seemed to assuage markets that it wouldn't be responsible for wiping out various sectors of the U.S. economy, telling investors at its Enterprise Agents briefing event on Tuesday that the company was aiming for "partnerships over conflict." Anthropic demonstrated new features that integrate its Claude agent with several enterprise software products, such as FactSet, WordPress, LegalZoom, and Google Drive.

"After watching Anthropic's Enterprise Agents briefing event, we have even greater conviction that model providers are unlikely to displace software incumbents," wrote analysts at Deutsche Bank in a research note Tuesday.

That should calm some of the AI panic, at least for now. Tomorrow will be another big day for tech, with Nvidia scheduled to report earnings after the close.

Markets may also move in response to President Donald Trump's annual State of the Union address, scheduled for later tonight (more on that below).

The Hot Stock: Keysight Technologies +23% The Biggest Loser: Expeditors International of Washington -7.2%

Best Sector: Consumer Discretionary +1.6% Worst Sector: Health Care -0.5%

It's SOTU Time

The U.S. economy will be front and center at tonight's State of the Union speech.

Trump is expected to promote his administration's accomplishments in the first year of his second term -- such as the continuing strength of the U.S. stock market and falling inflation -- and announce at least a handful of new economic policies. For instance, he will likely announce that AI companies have committed to pay to ensure electricity prices don't spike for consumers where AI data centers are built, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Above all else, he will aim to convince Americans that the economy is doing well (great, even). That's proving hard to do, given how pessimistic people have been about the economy for the better part of the past five years. Yet while consumer sentiment has been in the doldrums since 2020, it has inched even lower in the past 12 months.

Trump's approval rating has also taken a hit, as my colleague, Joe Light, notes:

About 36% of Americans approve of the job he's doing as president, according to a CNN poll released Monday, compared to 63% who disapprove. That's a net 12-percentage-point drop from February last year. Tariffs are among Trump's least popular policies, with most Americans believing that they raise costs.

On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down most of the president's tariffs, ruling that he broke the law by using emergency powers to impose the levies. The administration has indicated that it will keep pursuing the president's signature trade agenda using other authorities.

"Rather than step back from his trade agenda, Trump's speech could signal that he's planning to push even harder for a global trade reset," Joe writes. "The stakes are high as most of the public and even many in his own party question the high tariffs that are a centerpiece of Trump's economic agenda."

Follow our live coverage of the address here.

The Calendar

Agilent Technologies, APA, Bank of Montreal, Circle Internet Group, Heico, IonQ, Lowe's, Nutanix, Nvidia, Paramount Skydance, Pinnacle West Capital, Pure Storage, Salesforce, Snowflake, Synopsys, TJX Cos., TKO Group Holdings, Trade Desk, Universal Health Services, VICI Properties, and Zoom Communications report quarterly results.

What We're Reading Today

   -- It's a Wrap: Sweetgreen Goes Handheld Ahead of Earnings 
 
   -- PayPal Might Be a Takeover Target. What It Means for the Stock. 
 
   -- Jamie Dimon Warns of 'Dumb Stuff' Risks. Here's Where He's Seeing It. 
 
   -- Lowe's Stock Looks Like a Better Bargain Than Home Depot Ahead of 
      Earnings 
 
   -- FedEx Is Suing for Trump Tariffs Refund. The Supreme Court Fallout Has 
      Just Begun. 

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February 24, 2026 19:48 ET (00:48 GMT)

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