US stock market today: IBM shares fall 25%, warning a big miss on earnings; NASDAQ 100 soars led by rally in chip stocks

The US stock market posted a divergent trade on Tuesday amid multiple positive and negative factors. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 index soared 300 points and the S&P 500 jumped 0.3% on Tuesday, while the Dow Jones opened in red and traded with 100 point losses.

Meanwhile, the crude oil prices clawed back all its intraday gains after President Trump abandoned his decision to impose 20% fee on cargos passing through the Strait of Hormuz. He said, that he has decided to replace it with trade and investment deals various gulf states will be making with the United States.

Consequently, the Brent crude oil prices fell near to $85 per barrel, after touching $87.5 per barrel mark. Similarly, the WTI crude oil futures also fell below $80 per barrel mark after hitting intraday high of $81 per barrel.

The US stock market investors also breathe a sigh of relief after the CPI inflation rate for June 2026 fell to 3.5%, a first decline in five months and a sharp drop from 4.2% in May 2026. The core inflation rate, excluding food and energy costs fell to 2.6, from seven-month high of 2.9% in May. Consequently, the treasury yields fell sharply easing rate hike expectations. The US 10Y yield fell to 4.52% from intraday high of 4.63%. The gold prices also jumped 2% near $4,080 per ounce in the international markets as rate hike expectations scaled back recent high levels

IBM shares plunge 25%

At the stock specific level, the major casualty of Tuesday was IBM, whose shares fell more than 25% in the intraday trading session to hit two-month low level of $213 per share. The shares now trade nearly 35% below the record high levels touched last month.

The hardware and software solutions provider shares were in freefall after company’s quarterly earnings failed to meet the market expectations. The company said adjusted earnings per share of $2.9 per share, and a revenue of $17.2 billion per share may fail to beat the earnings expectation. Beyond the earnings, the company said, it faltered in meeting the guidance for its software business segment as clients increased their capex in acquiring chips and related infrastructure.

Following the weak outlook on software services division, the shares of peer software group companies like Salesforce, Microsoft, ServiceNow fell up to 4% amid bleak outlook for software firms. The ADR of Indian software companies like Infosys and Wipro also fell over 5% on Tuesday as investors again turn cautious on the software firms.

Chip stocks soar

Meanwhile, the chip stocks resumed back their momentum after media reports claimed that NVIDIA has resumed back its sales of H200 chips to China, boosting the overall sentiment for chip stocks. Shares of NVIDIA jumped over 3%, Micron Technology shares rallied 5%, AMD shares rose 3.8%.