Nasdaq Composite Jumps on Earnings Momentum, AI Spending and Mideast Deal Hopes

Gerelyn TerzoTue, April 21, 2026 at 1:08 PM UTC

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The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) looks set to recapture gains on Tuesday with all eyes on Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) after CEO Tim Cook announced he would be stepping down. Tech futures are rising about 0.3% higher early Tuesday. President Trump has signaled that a deal between the U.S. and Iran is now taking shape, adding further tailwinds to the markets today. Apple's CEO succession dominates sentiment, but earnings beats from D.R. Horton and UnitedHealth, Amazon's deepening AI commitment, and a CrowdStrike analyst upgrade are also shaping today's market sentiment. Yesterday, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) 13-session winning streak came to an end, its biggest string of gains since the early 1990s.

Apple's Leadership Transition

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell almost 1% in premarket trading after the company announced that CEO Tim Cook will step down and be succeeded by John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, effective September 1. Cook will transition to executive chairman. This marks Apple's first CEO transition since Cook took over from Steve Jobs in 2011, during which time Apple's market capitalization grew to over $4 trillion. Reddit sentiment turned bullish on the news, with r/stocks registering a sentiment score of 72 and r/investing scoring 58 at peak engagement Monday evening. Apple reports earnings on April 30, and Morgan Stanley maintains an Overweight rating with a price target of $315.

Amazon Deepens AI Investment

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is lifting the Nasdaq after announcing it would invest another $5 billion in Anthropic, with total investment potentially reaching $25 billion. South Korea's Kospi hit an all-time high partly on renewed appetite for AI assets following Amazon's Anthropic disclosure. Amazon shares were up about 3.5% over the past week heading into Tuesday, underscoring the broader AI infrastructure buildout driving the Nasdaq's recent run.

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Semiconductor Rally Hits a Warning

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has surged 30% in the past 13 days, the largest rally of this kind since 2002. The four largest index components have led: Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is up 242% in April, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) has gained 22% in April, Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) is up 38%, and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has added 22%. BTIG's chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky has flagged an elevated reading in the SOX relative to recent trend levels as a potential near-term caution signal. Separately, OpenAI is working with consulting firms including Accenture, Capgemini, and PricewaterhouseCoopers to sell its AI coding tool Codex to businesses, adding another layer to the AI commercialization story powering chip demand.

CrowdStrike Upgraded, SanDisk Joins Nasdaq-100

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) received an Overweight upgrade from KeyBanc on Tuesday, with a $525 price target, citing AI tailwinds from Anthropic's Mythos model as a catalyst for the cybersecurity platform. CrowdStrike shares are up about 8% over the past week.

READ: The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) was added to the Nasdaq-100 index, replacing Atlassian, reflecting AI-driven demand for NAND memory and structural shifts in the storage industry. The inclusion is expected to trigger passive fund inflows. SanDisk shares are up almost 285% year-to-date.

What Matters Now

AI infrastructure spending is beating expectations and earnings are broadly clearing the bar, giving the Nasdaq's recovery a durable foundation. WTI crude dropped to just over $89 a barrel and Brent fell to just above $95, easing one inflation pressure point. The VIX tells a similar story: the fear gauge sits near 18, down more than 30% over the past month from a spike above 31 in late March. During Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh's confirmation hearing Monday, he emphasized central bank independence. Apple's earnings on April 30 will test whether the tech rally extends beyond the AI infrastructure trade.

The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks

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Source: “AOL Money”