Nasdaq Held a Record as Oil Fell and Sandisk Took the AI Bid
The Nasdaq made a new record Tuesday and it was not a broad chip rally that got it there. Alphabet opened strong, pushed to $364.17, and gave the entire gain back. Nvidia is flat. Broadcom and Texas Instruments are lower. Sandisk is up more than 6% after Rosenblatt started coverage with a bullish call and a $2,400 target. The AI bid did not leave the market. It moved around inside the sector.
Lower crude gave the tape room to work. The report that Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days sent oil lower for a fifth straight session. Brent slipped toward $100. The 10-year yield is near 4.90% after reaching 5.041% last week.
At 16:29 GMT, the Nasdaq Composite is trading 27,192.82, up 70.73 points or 0.26%. It reached 27,272.72 earlier in the session, through the previous all-time high at 27,190.21.
Sandisk is trading $1,881.81, up $115.17 or 6.52%, after reaching a session high at $1,909.48. Alphabet is trading $351.63, down $3.34 or -0.94%, after trading as high as $364.17.
Three Sessions of Recovery Put the Nasdaq Through the Record
The Nasdaq reclaimed the 50-day moving average last week, cleared several swing tops Monday, and traded through the June high Tuesday. The former record at 27,190.21 is the first level to watch on a pullback. The 50-day at 26,114.78 is well below.
The main trend is up. The index does not need every chip name leading to hold a record. It needs enough of the large technology names and enough of the AI supply chain to keep the money moving through the group. Tuesday did that with a narrow list. AMD crossed a $1 trillion valuation Monday as the semiconductor index hit a one-month high. Tuesday’s move is more selective. The market is buying the parts of the buildout that have a fresh reason to move.
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See all NASDAQ 100 forecastsSandisk Is the AI Storage Trade
Rosenblatt analyst Kevin Cassidy started Sandisk with a buy rating and a $2,400 price target, about 30% above where the stock traded before the opening. NAND flash used to trade like a commodity. More density, lower cost per bit, cheapest wins. Cassidy is not making that call. He is making the call that AI changed who buys NAND and what they are willing to pay for it.
Large models and inference need storage that handles more data, works faster, and shows up on schedule. Data centers are treating it as a system component now. Sandisk has the vertical stacking technology with Kioxia through BiCS8 and BiCS10. It also locked in multiyear supply agreements with eight major NAND customers at set prices. That is a different business than the old flash cycle. Cassidy is projecting data-center revenue at $21.7 billion in fiscal 2027 and $28.6 billion in fiscal 2028.
The stock traded through $1,836.32 Tuesday and reached $1,909.48. The chart has a major high at $2,354.39 above. The 50-day at $1,505.37 is well below. The recovery from the August low at $998.19 has been running and Tuesday says buyers are still willing to pay for the AI storage story.
Alphabet Opened Strong and the Buyers Left
Alphabet helped drive the communication-services sector higher early Tuesday. The stock reached $364.17 and could not stay there. By 16:35 GMT it was trading below Monday’s close at $351.63.
The 50-day moving average at $345.52 is holding the larger recovery. The $356.11 to $362.80 area stopped the move Tuesday. Alphabet has to clear and hold $362.80 before the August high at $384.48 is in play. The record happened while one of the stocks that helped start the session gave the gain back. That is worth watching heading into Wednesday.
Meta is still higher after Monday’s 11% gain on the AI agent Muse. Apple and Tesla are slightly higher. Vicor is up after raising its third-quarter revenue outlook. The money is going into growth. It is not going into every growth stock at the same time.
Crude Is Giving Technology the Room It Needed
Oil is down for a fifth straight session. The Iran report is conditional. Saudi Arabia also restarted its East-West Pipeline according to three sources. Brent is still near $100. WTI is still above $90. Those are not low oil prices. They are lower than where the market was trading when the Hormuz risk premium was at its peak. That is enough to take pressure off yields for a session.
Boston Fed President Susan Collins backed last week’s rate increase. Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, New York Fed President John Williams, and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin are scheduled to speak later Tuesday. The market has lower oil and lower yields. It does not have a dovish Fed.
What to Watch
Jefferson, Williams, and Barkin are all speaking later Tuesday. Collins already backed last week’s hike. Oil coming down five straight sessions is not going to stop that message. The crude relief is giving technology room to run and the Fed speakers can take it back with one hawkish line about demand.
Sandisk broke out on a fresh call. Alphabet gave back the whole morning move. Nvidia sat there. The Nasdaq posted a record on a short list of names and the old high at 27,190.21 is where sellers show up if the list gets any shorter. The East-West Pipeline restart and the Hormuz report are still unconfirmed. Crude at $100 Brent with five days of selling behind it is one headline away from turning around. If it does, the yield relief goes with it and the growth trade that carried Tuesday loses its footing.
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