Shares of Johnson & Johnson rose more than 3% in afternoon trading Tuesday, heading for a fresh closing record.

If that move higher holds through the close, it would mark the stock’s first record close since July 7, when it gained 3.1% to $267.24.

The stock has gained roughly 31% year to date, more than double the S&P 500‘s advance in the same period.

Health care and biotechnology stocks climbed to all-time highs Tuesday as investors searched for pockets of strength in the market beyond tech.

The $44 billion State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF, made up of 62 stocks, reached a record. The fund’s total return over the past three months, including reinvested dividends, is 15.6% versus 4.8% for the S&P 500. The fund consists of 62 stocks, with Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson comprising 26% of the portfolio.

The $19 billion Vanguard Health Care Index Fund also rose to a record, bringing its three-month total return to 16.6%. The fund contains 415 stocks and Lilly and J&J take up 22.2% of the total.

Also touching new highs Tuesday: IShares Biotechnology ETF (ahead 21.1% in three months); Nasdaq Biotechnology index (higher by 18.5% in three months); and S&P 500 Health Care index (15.7% total return in three months).

Treasury yields are continuing to climb, and at a particularly bad time as higher rates worsen the impact of the nearly $40 trillion government debt load.

Longer-dated debt has been hit particularly hard by the recent leg up, pushing the 30-year bond yield close to its highest level since the early part of the 21st century. Other maturities also have risen, owing to a number of factors conspiring to raise financing costs.

Fixed income strategists ascribe the run that began in June to a number of variables: Intensified concerns over a budget deficit that appears set to eclipse its 2025 level; inflation in an ominous holding pattern above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target despite moderating data over the past two months; and a rash of corporate debt issuance competing with Treasurys for investors’ favor.

Broadly, the move can also be attributed to a rising term premium, or the extra yield investors demand to hold U.S. debt.

Read more here to learn about the other factors driving up yields.

— Jeff Cox

For the second consecutive quarter, Home Depot left its outlook unchanged despite beating on both earnings and revenue. That is likely dampening the exuberance over its better-than-expected second quarter performance.

Despite posting its strongest same-store sales growth in almost four years and getting a boost from $730 million in tariff refunds during the latest quarter, the home improvement retailer stood pat on its guidance for this year – a forecast it first gave at an investor conference almost 9 months ago.

So far, the retail giant has had a good 2026. Since that initial guide was telegraphed way back in December, Home Depot has beaten EPS estimates by 21 cents and has bettered revenue expectations by almost $1 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year. Yet that hasn’t been enough to move the needle on full year guidance – likely indicating some caution in the back half of the year.

On this morning’s call with analysts, Home Depot executives cited headwinds from “unplanned pressure from fuel, energy and other product input costs” while “larger discretionary projects remain under pressure.”

— Robert Hum

Share of online auto retailer Carvana were down more than 3% to $67.81 as of 12:32PM on Tuesday following sales of the stock from two of its directors last week.

Director Danforth Quayle disposed of 14,525 shares of the company on Friday and director Ira Platt disposed of 30,000 shares on Thursday, according to company filings delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

— Tobias Burns

Shares of UGI jumped in midday trading after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar, that KKR made a $9 billion bid to take over the utility.

UGI was last up 12% on the day. At one point, trading in the stock was briefly halted for volatility.

UGI, up 5% in 2026, is based in Pennsylvania and serves roughly 700,000 customers.

KKR declined to comment on the WSJ’s report.

— Darla Mercado

Ed Yardeni isn’t worried about the sharp rise in sovereign bond yields thwarting stocks. Not yet, at least.

The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond yield is trading at levels not seen in roughly two decades around 5.3%. Germany’s 10-year bund yield also touched a 15-year high, while Japan’s 10-year government note yield scaled to a multidecade high. Yields in the UK, Italy, Switzerland and Canada are also higher of late.

Equities around the world were under pressure amid the move higher in yields, though many of the globe’s largest markets were able to mostly whether the storm. Europe’s Stoxx 600 was down only slightly on Tuesday. U.S. stock futures fell, though they weren’t selling off as of this writing. Asian equities, however, saw sharper declines: Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 2.5% overnight; the Korean Kospi lost more than 1%; though China’s Shang eked out a small gain.

Yardeni, the president of Yardeni Research and the person who coined the term “Bond Vigilantes” — investors who sell Treasurys to send yields higher and enforce their views on fiscal or monetary policy — isn’t “pushing the panic button.” But that could change if the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield goes much higher than current levels.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Fred Imbert

Citi’s Quant team upgraded Bath & Body Works to Buy from Neutral, ahead of second quarter earnings.

The specialty retailer’s traffic improved in the second quarter, with Placer store traffic data showing visits up to about 1.1% from 0.2% in the first quarter, according to Citi.

The bigger focus is whether new products and marketing can drive a stronger second half after an estimated 3.6% sales decline in the first half. Beyond guidance, Citi highlighted three key factors: potential second half acceleration, consumer resilience and growth with new wholesale partners.

“2Q is unlikely to showcase any major turnaround, but understanding the 2H plan to achieve acceleration is the biggest near-term driver,” Citi analysts wrote.

Bath & Body Works will report its second quarter results before the market open on August 26th.

— Deena Zaidi

U.S. equities began Tuesday’s session in the red.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5% just after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 191 points, or 0.4%.

— Sean Conlon

Duolingo is poised to bounce back following an effort to refresh its core business and grow more profitable, according to D.A. Davidson.

The Pittsburgh-based language learning platform soared more than 350% in 2023-2024, only to plunge 60% in 2025-2026.

On Tuesday, Davidson upgraded Duolingo to buy from neutral, lifting its 12-month price target on the stock to $160 from $130, implying 23% upside from Monday’s close. 

“Underlying product work, marketing changes, and the continued efforts at refining the core monetization engine are underappreciated by investors and there is a long runway for growth in the coming years,” analyst Wyatt Swanson wrote Tuesday in a note to clients. “We dig into how [daily active users] can continue to accelerate and how bookings may converge with DAU growth.”

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Liz Napolitano

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

• Tesla — Shares dipped 1.2%. The Information reported that the electric vehicle maker is preparing for an August launch of its Cybercab, a robotaxi without a steering wheel.
• Fabrinet — The optical product manufacturer dropped more than 9% fourth-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded expectations, and it issued rosy guidance. Fabrinet said usual Q1 expense seasonality is expected to create a temporary margin headwind in fiscal Q1 2027, StreetAccount said.
• Memory stocks — Memory chip makers were down as a group in premarket trading, with Micron Technology and SK Hynix off by more than 4%, each. Shares of Sandisk were also down more than 4%.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

Home Depot reported second-quarter results that beat analyst consensus expectations, though the stock only rose around 1% after the company kept its full-year guidance unchanged.

“We continue to operate in what I call ‘frozen housing market’ conditions, but we also know that we’re taking share and that we’re serving our customers better every day,” CFO Richard McPhail told CNBC. “It’s a reflection of the continued investment we’ve made and the focus on executing our strategy.”

Read more here.

Asia-Pacific markets ended in the red Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading losses among key indexes.

Japan’s benchmark index fell 2.54% to 67,460.73 while the Topix 1.05% to 4,140.22. Kospi fell 1.55% to 6,869.83, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 3.5% to 834.2.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was flat at 9,070.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 declined 0.32% to 4,725.81. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was little changed at 25,471.15.

— Lee Ying Shan

European equity markets were largely lower in morning deals, with Germany’s DAX down 0.4% and France’s CAC 40 lower by 0.24%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 nudged 0.1% higher.

Retail giant H&M was the top performer on the pan-European Stoxx 600 index at 3:40 ET, up 4%, following price target upgrades by Citigroup and Jefferies.

— Jenni Reid

The U.K.’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.9% in the three months to the end of June, up slightly on the 4.8% consensus estimate.

The number of payrolled employees rose 83,000 in the three-month period, missing the 129,000 forecast in a Reuters poll. Average weekly earnings were up 4.1% year-on-year, in line with expectations of 4%.

The pound was trading 0.13% lower against the dollar at $1.35 shortly after the jobs report.

— Hugh Leask

Resurging fears around inflation are sending government borrowing costs higher across the globe, with many longer-maturity bond yields hovering near multi-decade highs.

The early hours of Tuesday morning saw yields on U.S. 30-year Treasury yields add 1 basis point to trade at around 5.324%, its highest level since 2002.

The yield on Japan’s long-dated government bonds hovered near levels reached in May, when yields hit 40-year highs. Germany’s 30-year bond yield was last seen at its highest since 2011, while their British counterparts approached a multi-decade high. French 30-year government bond yields also ticked upward to a post-2008 high.

— Chloe Taylor

At 6:30 a.m. in London (1:30 a.m. ET), European stock futures were broadly pointing to a negative open.

Futures tied to the regional Stoxx 50 were down by 0.5%. Those tied to the German DAX index was around 0.6% lower, while French CAC 40 futures and FTSE 100 futures were flat.

— Chloe Taylor

U.S. Treasury yields pushed higher Tuesday, with longer-dated yields remaining near multi-decade highs as investors continued to sell government bonds.

The 30-year Treasury yield rose about 1 basis point to 5.32%, around its highest level since 2007, while the 20-year yield climbed to 5.316%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield added roughly 1.2 basis points to 4.736%.

Concerns over the U.S. fiscal outlook and heavy debt supply have added to pressure from elevated oil prices and renewed geopolitical tensions, sending yields higher.

“Long-term yields look likely to push up to 5.60-5.70% and likely move up at a quicker pace than normal,” said Fundstrat’s technical strategist Mark Newton.

He also pointed to Japan, where weaker-than-expected economic growth was accompanied by a hotter-than-expected GDP deflator. Japanese government bond yields rose following the data, with the move spilling into U.S. Treasurys and lifted yields on longer-duration debt.

— Lee Ying Shan

Oil rose Tuesday amid concerns over supply disruptions and a potential resumption of Mideast hostilities after President Donald Trump said he would not extend the Iran ceasefire.

Futures for international benchmark Brent crude for October delivery gained 0.48% at $91.31 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for September advanced 0.62% at $85.02per barrel.

Trump also said on Monday said the U.S. would “bomb the s— out of” Oman if the Gulf nation “gets in the way,” raising worries over growing strains in the Middle East.

“Crude prices are rising on renewed geopolitical tensions triggered by President Trump threatening Oman with military strikes and communicating that he is in no rush to end the Iran war,” said José Torres, a senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

Mideast hostilities may also escalate following “a fresh burst of violence in Lebanon [that] is worrying market participants, Torres added.

— Justina Lee

The Japanese yen hovered around 159 against the dollar on Tuesday, having given back a significant portion of the gains sparked by last month’s coordinated U.S.-Japan intervention.

In a note on Tuesday, Macquarie estimated U.S. authorities sold about $500 million worth of euros for yen on July 31, a fraction of the roughly $85 billion it estimates Japan spent buying yen with dollars over July 30 and 31.

That suggests the impact of Washington’s involvement came primarily from the signal it sent to markets rather than the size of its intervention, according to Gareth Berry, Macquarie’s head of FX and rates strategy.

Still, Berry said the relatively small U.S. operation means Washington has substantial capacity to step in again if the yen weakens further. Macquarie estimates the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have another $25.9 billion in euro-denominated reserves that could be deployed through EUR/JPY, allowing them to repeat interventions of a similar size many times.

If authorities instead intervene directly in USD/JPY, Macquarie said the available firepower could, in theory, be “almost limitless.”

— Lee Ying Shan

The gap between the Chinese 10-year government bond yield and U.S. 10-year Treasury is widening again, reflecting growing divergence between the world’s two largest economies.

The spread climbed to 303 basis points Monday, matching levels seen on July 31, and headed toward a high of 315 basis points seen in January 2025, according to Wind Information data going back to 2007.

As China’s economy has struggled with weak domestic demand, the 10-year government bond yield has persistently traded below that of the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield since 2022.

Weaker-than-expected China economic data released Monday raised expectations of policy easing, which if followed through increase the yield spread further.

In the U.S., Treasury yields rose, with the 30-year hitting its highest since June 2007, as rising oil prices added to investor worries about high inflation and government debt levels.

— Evelyn Cheng, Sean Conlon and Hugh Leask

Asia-Pacific markets traded largely lower Tuesday, with South Korean stocks bucking the broader decline after resuming trade from a holiday.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi jumped 2%, powered by gains in chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix which added 3% and 5% respectively.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.9% while the Topix declined 0.28%.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was flat at the open.

— Lee Ying Shan

Asia-Pacific markets were set to fall Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump ruled out extending a 60-day agreement with Iran that had led to a fragile ceasefire between the two countries, while also threatening Oman with military action.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Chicago futures contract was trading at 68,990 and its Osaka counterpart was last at 68,970 compared with the index’s previous close of 69,220.25.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures last traded at 25,355, below the benchmark’s close of 25,453.23.

Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 last traded at 8,976 compared with the index’s last close of 9,073.2.

Trump said informal talks were underway with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard but that he was “not in a hurry” to reach an agreement. “They’re good poker players, but they’re dying,” he told Fox News.

Hours later, Trump said he would not seek to extend the temporary truce. “No,” he told reporters when asked about an extension.

— Lee Ying Shan

Shares fell over 4.5% in regular trading for the defense contracting giant L3Harris Technologies after the company removed CEO Chris Kubasik.

The company ousted Kubasik after discovering he engaged “certain conduct … that was not consistent with the values of the Company,” L3Harris Technologies said in a statement Monday. Kubasik has been replaced by Sam Mehta as chief executive officer and president.

After Monday’s close, shares were up marginally.

— Ananya Chetia