Stocks rose on Tuesday morning on the back of hopes of a de-escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
Markets were in the green following a Wall Street Journal report that president Donald Trump told his aides he was willing to end the US military campaign against Iran, even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed.
Read more: Stocks rise as Trump willing to end Iran war without Hormuz deal
In the UK, the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) climbed 0.8%, while Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.7% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris headed 0.6% into the green. The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was up 0.7% at the time of writing.
Over in the US, contracts linked to the S&P 500 (ES=F), Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) all jumped 1%.
Here’s our daily roundup of the key trending stocks on Tuesday.
Memory stocks were in focus after resuming a sell-off in the previous session, after an algorithm breakthrough by Google (GOOG) sparked concerns about a future slowdown in demand.
Last week, Google published research unveiling its TurboQuant algorithm that it said can to reduce the memory needed to run artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The development has weighed on memory chipmaker Micron Technology (MU), with shares slipping nearly 10% on Monday. Shares in data storage company Western Digital Corporation (WDC) fell nearly 9% in the previous session, while flash memory company Sandisk (SNDK) declined 7% on Monday.
In London, consumer goods giant Unilever (ULVR.L) was in the spotlight, after the company said it was in advanced talks to combine its food business with spice maker McCormick & Company (MKC).
Unilever said in a statement on Tuesday that it was possible an agreement could be concluded today, but added that there could be no certainty that a deal will be agreed.
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If a deal were to go forward, Unilever said that it is currently thought that this would involve a combination of its food business with McCormick, for around $15.7bn (£11.9bn) cash upfront and equity in McCormick.
Unilever shares edged 0.7% higher on Tuesday morning, while New York-listed McCormick was up 1.7% in pre-market trading.
Shares in Raspberry Pi (RPI.L) surged nearly 23% on Tuesday morning, after the company reported 25% increase in revenue and earnings.
The London-listed firm, which makes small, low-cost computers, said that revenue grew to $323.2m in 2025. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased to $46.4m, while pre-tax profit jumped 63% to $26.5m.
