Shares in Oracle were the number one trending ticker on Yahoo Finance on Tuesday morning as the AI infrastructure company is set to report third quarter earnings after the bell.
Wall Street analysts expect adjusted earnings per share of $1.70, up from $1.47 a year earlier. Revenue is forecast to rise 20% to $16.9bn.
Oracle’s cloud segment is expected to generate $8.8bn in revenue, while its software segment is projected to bring in $5.9bn.
Remaining performance obligations, which represent signed contracts yet to be fulfilled, are estimated to exceed $470.7bn, sharply higher than the $130bn recorded in the same quarter of 2025.
Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks surge after Trump says Iran war could end ‘very soon’
The results are expected to offer a gauge of demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure deals, as Oracle sits on a large backlog of AI-related contracts alongside rising debt and negative free cash flow.
Shares in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) rose almost 3% in pre-market trading after the company raised its earnings outlook while moving to secure memory supplies amid a shortage.
HPE increased its forecast for adjusted earnings per share by five cents to a range of $2.30 to $2.50.
The company reaffirmed its overall revenue growth outlook for 2026 and raised its forecast for networking revenue growth to between 68% and 73%.
The server and networking group said on Monday that strong demand from artificial intelligence and data centre developers was continuing to support sales of its networking products.
HPE has also taken several steps to secure sufficient memory as tight supply conditions drive prices higher.
Read more: Oil drops as Trump says US looking to keep prices down amid Iran war
Net profit was $423m, or 31 cents a share, in the quarter ended 31 January, compared with $598m, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding certain items, adjusted earnings were 65 cents a share, ahead of the 59 cents expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.
The price of bitcoin jumped after Donald Trump said the war in Iran would be over “very soon”.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency climbed 4.3% to $71,079 amid expectations of higher inflation in the US, which analysts linked to rising energy prices and the prospect of increased military spending.
“Bitcoin has recorded four consecutive declining sessions after failing to sustain its upward momentum above the key resistance zone near $74,000,” said Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com.
“This suggests the previous bullish momentum has weakened as the market begins to face headwinds from both capital flows and the broader macroeconomic environment.”
On Sunday morning, bitcoin traded near $67,500, down 38% from inauguration day.
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On Myriad, a prediction market, traders grew less confident that bitcoin would fall to $55,000, with probabilities shifting to 58% that it would reach $84,000 first compared with 42% that it would fall further, although overall sentiment remained bearish.
Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC) were up ahead of the US opening bell as sales rose 30% in the first two months of the year, supported by strong construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure before conflict escalated in the Middle East.
Revenue in January and February combined reached NT$718.9bn, or $22.6bn, the company said on Tuesday. Analysts on average expect a 33% increase in the first quarter.
February sales rose 22%, with growth affected by the Lunar New Year holiday period, which fell in January in 2025.
TSMC, which supplies chips to Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD) and Broadcom (AVGO), is widely viewed as a bellwether for the global AI industry. Investors are now watching how the US and Israel’s strike on Iran could affect demand for new data centres and other digital infrastructure.
In London, shares in housebuilder Persimmon rose 8.6% despite warning that the conflict with Iran could weigh on buyer sentiment.
The company said it was “monitoring the impact the conflict with Iran could have on our markets in 2026”, highlighting the potential for uncertainty to affect demand.
It added: “We have not assumed mortgage rate reductions or the introduction of any government demand stimulus, with the most important short-term factor being any changes to customer sentiment in response to increased uncertainty.”
Persimmon said it expects to deliver between 12,000 and 12,500 housing completions this year, “assuming the conflict with Iran and its impact is short”.
Full-year results showed pre-tax profits rose 11% to £397.3m in 2025 as new home completions increased 12% to 11,905. On an underlying basis, pre-tax profits rose 13% to £445.6m.
Sales in the opening weeks of the year were otherwise “strong”, the company said, with its net private sales rate rising 9% year on year in the first nine weeks and average selling prices increasing 6%.
Its private sales order book stood 9% higher at £1.25bn as of 1 March.
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Dean Finch, group chief executive of Persimmon, said: “Sales in the opening weeks of the year have been strong and the build-to-rent market is recovering from the slowdown around November’s budget.
“Whilst we have good visibility of both our costs for 2026 and our demand from registered providers and build-to-rent, the impact of the Iran conflict on customer sentiment remains to be seen.
“Assuming the conflict with Iran and its impact is short, Persimmon is set to grow again in 2026.”
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