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Stocks to retreat (0:15), United States He gives permission Iranian oil sales (0:40), options Flashing Increased anxiety (2:20) and Micron Partners With Anthropy (4:13)
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The main averages on Wall Street were mixed On Monday after negotiations to reach a peace agreement between the United States and Iran failed over the weekend. In addition, big technology stocks struggled.
The Trump administration issued a temporary license Allow Iran to sell Iran will continue some energy exports through August 21 after “productive talks” between the United States and Iran, Treasury Secretary Besent said Monday, opening the door to eventually ending several sanctions programs as part of negotiations between the two countries.
The exemption allows the United States to import Iranian crude oil and other petrochemical and petroleum products, which the United States has not done on any meaningful level since the measures were imposed after the 1979 revolution, and Iran can be paid in dollars, a boon for a country that is in desperate need of foreign exchange.
“This concession not only weakens the pressure campaign, it puts it in reverse,” Brett Erickson, managing director of Obsidian Risk Advisors, told Bloomberg.
Shipowners, traders and buyers will now have to evaluate whether they have enough time to source, finance and complete these purchases after years of not doing business with Iran due to sanctions.
Vice President Vance said “significant progress” had been made during the talks in Switzerland, despite Iran’s announcement over the weekend that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran had agreed to allow weapons inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to return to the country.
Vance said Iran’s invitation to IAEA inspectors was “a major milestone and a first step toward permanently ending Iran’s nuclear weapons program,” but IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi — who is attending the talks in Switzerland — did not comment.
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SP500(the latter was -0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite (comp:end(traded -1.1%, leading Dow Jones)DJI) was +0.3%.
Treasury yields were higher, with the 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y(rose 5 basis points to 4.51%, while the two-year Treasury yield rose)US2Y) rose 4 basis points to 4.23%.
Crude oil futures (CL1:comThe price of Brent crude reached $73.CO: com(It reached $77 per barrel).
Options markets are Flashing There is growing concern about the stability of technology stocks, especially companies linked to the artificial intelligence boom, according to Apollo’s chief economist, Torsten Slok.
Slouk pointed out that the main measure of the Nasdaq index (comp:end(Volatility relative to the broader S&P 500 index)SP500) reached its highest level in years, highlighting the sharp difference in how investors price risk across the stock market.
The move suggests that traders are increasingly looking for protection against potential volatility in technology stocks, even as broader market volatility remains relatively subdued.
The widening gap suggests that market participants view the greatest vulnerabilities as being concentrated within growth-oriented, AI-related stocks rather than the overall market.
Demand for downside protection on the Nasdaq has accelerated, reflecting concerns that high valuations and crowded positions could leave parts of the technology sector exposed to a period of heightened turmoil.
At the same time, the relatively muted volatility profile of the S&P 500 indicates that investors are not expecting a widespread sell-off in the market. Instead, current options pricing points to fears of a more targeted shakeout centered around high-growth technology names.
This trend underscores how investor sentiment has become increasingly dependent on a narrow group of AI-related companies that have played a key role in driving recent market gains.
Now, here are 4 news stories that came out this morning that you should pay attention to:
AbbVie acquires Apogee: AbbVie (ABBV) has Agreed For Apogee Therapeutics (I want) in a cash transaction of $135.11 per share, for a total of approximately $10.9 billion in stock value. This transaction is expected to strengthen AbbVie’s franchise in immunology and expand its presence in respiratory diseases, including atopic dermatitis and asthma. APGE shares rose 52% in early trading on the news. The transaction, expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, adds to Apogee’s pipeline of clinical stage therapies for inflammatory and immune diseases, including its lead asset zumilokibart, a subcutaneous half-life extended monoclonal antibody targeting IL-13.
Micron partners with Anthropic: Micron Technology (in) and Anthropics have declared a cooperation To develop memory and storage infrastructure optimized for AI workloads. Micron shares rose 5% during early market trading on the news. This partnership establishes Micron as the primary supplier of memory and storage components to Anthropic and will investigate how memory and storage subsystems perform across AI training and inference workloads.
Meta invests in Cred: Meta Platforms (dead) has acquired A 20% stake in Indian fintech company Cred in a $900 million investment that values the platform at $4.5 billion. As part of the deal, Cred founder Kunal Shah will take on the role of head of WhatsApp, replacing Will Cathcart, who is moving into a new AI-focused role at Meta. Cred runs an app that rewards users for paying credit card bills on time. He described Meta Shah as “one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs” who brings a deep understanding of how to integrate WhatsApp into people’s daily lives.
nvidia (NVDA) was in to focus Monday such as Dell Technologies (Dale) and super micro computer (SMCI) has unveiled new AI servers with the tech giant’s Vera Rubin line of GPUs.
Nvidia too male Vera Rubin and its Vera CPU lines will come to other server makers and be available for other scientific work, such as climate modeling or energy exploration.
Coinbase International (currency) It is now said to be an offer Pre-IPO Perpetual Futures Traders Tied to Anthropics (Anthro) and OpenAI (Obinay).
Earlier this month, a cryptocurrency exchange allowed traders to do just that Risky bets On SpaceX (Spex) Future stock prices through so-called “pre-IPO perpetual futures contracts,” Reuters reported.
The agency said the derivatives had no direct connection to the underlying shares but were priced by reference to the most recently disclosed valuation prior to SpaceX’s IPO.
