Major indices are moving lower across the board this afternoon with the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 moving off the lows and approaching their baselines.

The move comes as Middle Eastern tensions push oil and bond yields higher.

Utilities (XLU) and Energy (XLE) are the leading sectors today. On the other hand, Health Care (XLV) is the laggard in part due to disappointing phase 3 results in cholesterol drugs, where Novartis (NVS) said its treatment lowered the target blood marker as designed but failed to reduce heart attacks and strokes. The news also dragged down Amgen (AMGN), which is testing a similar drug of its own. Financials (XLF) is also lagging, with notable declines in insurance and financial data names.

Meanwhile, Technology (XLK) is edging into the green with strength in semiconductors and hardware names partially offsetting the weakness in the software space.

Treasury Secretary Bessent spoke today and framed AI as a national security priority, saying the US cannot pause because China won't and that defense capability would not matter if China pulled ahead, while faulting hyperscalers for poor communication on AI. On bonds, he rejected the idea that investors are worried about US credit and defended Treasury buybacks as making a market in less liquid off-the-run securities.

Over the weekend, he also gave comments that dismissed Canada's leverage in the trade dispute, with Ottawa's retaliatory tariffs on roughly $28 billion of US imports taking effect Tuesday.

Technology News

In AI and semiconductor news, Qualcomm (QCOM) announced a long-term partnership under which Amazon (AMZN) could purchase up to $60 billion of its AI data-center chips and related products, with Qualcomm granting Amazon roughly $4 billion in warrants that vest against those purchases, a validation of its push to diversify beyond smartphones.

Additionally, Celero Communications raised $275 million in a round co-led by Alphabet's (GOOG/L) CapitalG, valuing the 2-year-old startup at more than $3 billion, with its coherent DSP chips built on TSMC's 2nm process and production targeted to begin next year.

Apple (AAPL) is also in the headlines as it acquired Sonera, a startup focusing on using non-invasive sensors to detect brain and muscle activity for wearable use which could synergize with Apple’s newer products.

Furthermore, Physical AI startup Antioch raised a $32 million Series A led by Greylock for cloud-scale simulation infrastructure that lets robotics developers build digital twins, generate synthetic data and run thousands of parallel tests before deploying to hardware, with Amazon (AMZN) Ring, Nvidia (NVDA) Robotics, and Nebius (NBIS) already among the teams using it.

Finally, quantum computing names are getting a boost today following two $100 million government funding awards and raised guidance from IonQ, Inc. (IONQ) following its SkyWater acquisition.

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