The Closer
The earnings divergence that defined Tuesday's session carried straight through the after-hours tape, and if anything widened. Intel capped the day falling 22.9% after beating on EPS but warning that the PC correction has accelerated over the past two months, with OEMs aggressively managing inventory and a shortage of advanced organic substrates crimping output, even as CEO comments kept Intel 18A-P and 14A on track for launch. Reddit dropped 17.5%, Stryker fell 11.5% despite raising full-year guidance, HP slid 7.9%, and Amazon extended its post-earnings slide to 7.6%. On the other side, Mondelez rose 7.2% after reaffirming its 2026 outlook and beating on EPS, Exelon gained 4.5%, FedEx Freight climbed 4.3% on raised transition-period guidance, Willis Towers Watson added 4.1% and O'Reilly Auto rose 3.4%. The split is the same one that hit Alphabet and ServiceNow earlier in the session: the market is rewarding defensives and steady guidance while punishing anything tied to AI capex timing or consumer-facing softness.
A separate shock hit crypto markets. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao confirmed the exchange appears to have been hacked, with Tether and Circle freezing roughly $1.8bn and Binance's own tally of frozen funds reaching $2.54bn and possibly rising. Binance has suspended Alpha trading and all deposits and withdrawals, and says it will cover all losses while it investigates with law enforcement. Binance.US says it is unaffected.
On the geopolitical front, the Strait of Hormuz situation stayed tense, with UKMTO reporting an outbound vessel on fire near Khasab, Oman, but diplomacy showed signs of progress. Envoy Tom Barrack said Washington is "very close" to an agreement easing tensions with Iran, citing mediation from Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, while Tehran signaled openness to talks. Oil fell on the news, with WTI down 0.8% to $102 and Brent off 0.4% to $114.88, even as the Pentagon continues reinforcing Middle East defenses and briefing Trump on military options. Separately, Ukraine has paused strikes on Russian refineries under US pressure, a pause expected to hold at least through the midterms.
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