Wall Street Slips as Iran Talks Stall and Oil Tops $83 — Alphabet Sinks 3.4% While Fermi and Riot Platforms Ride a $15 Billion AI Leasing Wave

Records Give Way to a Cautious Pause Ahead of Wednesday's CPI

Iran Talks Stall and Oil Tops $83 as Alphabet Slides 3.4%

• U.S.-Iran negotiations remained deadlocked Tuesday, with President Trump saying "we are only semi-negotiating with them," while Iran's foreign minister said there was "no possibility of restarting negotiations" without U.S. compensation for alleged June memorandum violations.
• Crude oil extended its climb on Strait of Hormuz uncertainty — WTI rose to roughly $83.39 a barrel and Brent pushed toward $89, with shipping traffic through the strait falling well below its usual average.
• Alphabet (GOOG) fell ▼ 3.4% after the company's raised 2026 AI capex outlook — potentially reaching $205 billion — stoked investor worries about cash-flow compression and equity dilution, compounded by fresh EU antitrust complaints from French publishers.
• Despite the drag, the S&P 500 slipped just ▼ 0.32% and the Dow eased ▼ 0.34% — a modest pullback after last week's run to record highs.

AI Data-Center Leasing Frenzy Sends Fermi Soaring 21% and Riot Platforms Up 17%

• Fermi (FRMI) jumped ▲ 21.1% after signing the first lease for its Project Matador campus, a $6.5 billion deal with AI cloud provider TensorWave.
• Riot Platforms (RIOT) surged ▲ 17% on a landmark 20-year, 191 MW data-center lease with Anthropic worth roughly $9.1 billion in contracted revenue through 2048.
• Peer AI-infrastructure names IREN, Applied Digital, and TeraWulf each added around 2%, though analysts noted the move was a single-name event tied to Riot's specific contract rather than a broader sector re-rating.
• Energy stocks were the session's clearest traditional-sector winner, tracking the rise in crude prices amid the Strait of Hormuz standoff.

The AI Infrastructure Trade Dominates Again

• Fermi (FRMI) led gainers, up ▲ 21.1% on its $6.5 billion TensorWave lease, followed by Riot Platforms (RIOT) ▲ 17% on its $9.1 billion Anthropic deal.
• Plug Power (PLUG) climbed ▲ 13.3% after beating second-quarter expectations.
• Teradyne (TER) rose roughly ▲ 6% after securing a new $1 billion credit line.
• Iris Energy (IREN) added ▲ 2%, tracking the broader move higher in AI-infrastructure and bitcoin-mining names.

Blue Chips Retreat From Last Week's Record Highs

• The Nasdaq Composite led index declines, falling ▼ 0.60% to 26,445.45, while the Dow eased ▼ 0.34% to 53,791.85 and the S&P 500 slipped ▼ 0.32% to 7,728.20.
• Tuesday's pullback follows a record-setting Friday close, leaving the S&P 500 down roughly 0.4% and the Nasdaq down roughly 0.9% versus last week's highs.
• The 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.70%, and gold edged higher to roughly $4,368.79 an ounce.
• Odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at the September meeting eased after last week's soft July jobs report, but Wednesday's CPI print — forecast at 3.4% headline and 2.5% core — is now the key swing factor for Fed policy.

What to Watch the Week of August 11

• July CPI arrives Wednesday morning, August 12 — forecast at 3.4% headline and 2.5% core — the week's most important catalyst for the Fed's rate path.
• CoreWeave (CRWV) jumped more than 14% after hours Tuesday on a Q2 beat: revenue of $2.58 billion (up 112% year-over-year) and a $104 billion backlog, with Q3 guidance of $3.4–$3.6 billion.
• Super Micro Computer (SMCI) also surged after hours on crushed earnings estimates and soaring profits tied to AI server demand.
• Cardinal Health reports Wednesday, one of several names on the earnings calendar alongside continued AI-infrastructure headlines.
• The Strait of Hormuz remains the key swing factor for oil — talks stayed stalled Tuesday and shipping traffic through the strait stayed well below normal.