Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on July 21, 2026 in New York City.

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The S&P 500 was relatively unchanged on Wednesday, pressured by a rise in oil prices, as investors looked ahead to another busy day of corporate earnings.

The broad market index was trading around the flatline, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 234 points, or 0.5%.

Brent crude futures rose 2% to trade above $93 per barrel, hitting their highest levels in over a month and briefly topping $95. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 2% to above $86 per barrel.

Oil prices traded higher following the 11th straight round of U.S. strikes against Iran, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying Iran is "not serious about talks."

"If they're serious, we're serious. If they're not, then we will do what is necessary to protect our interests and also the interests of our allies," he said.

Rubio also said that American forces would "continue to protect shipping" through the Strait of Hormuz.

Traders have kept an eye on oil as they fear it could keep consumer goods prices elevated — which may lead the Federal Reserve to raise rates.

As of Wednesday morning, fed funds futures traders were pricing in a 24% chance of a rate hike from the Fed this month. Traders were also pricing in a 70% chance of at least a quarter-point hike in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

More earnings

Earnings take center stage again on Wednesday, with reports due from ServiceNow, International Business Machines, Tesla, Texas Instruments and Alphabet. Investors will be watching closely for updates on AI spending, cloud demand, corporate technology budgets and the outlook for the second half of the year.

Investors remain focused on whether strong demand for AI infrastructure and software will continue to justify elevated valuations across the technology sector as earnings season accelerates.

"Q2 earnings season is ramping up, but with most hyperscalers yet to report, the market is still waiting for the definitive read on how AI investment is being monetized and translated into future capital spending," said Julia Hermann, global market strategist at New York Life Investment Management.

Shares of Super Micro Computer jumped 14% on the heels of the server maker forecasting higher margins than expected for the fiscal fourth quarter, with the company saying that it received more than $60 billion in new orders in the period.

AT&T shares also saw gains, rising 4% following the telecommunications company's better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. Conversely, shares of GE Vernova dropped 6% after the company's second-quarter earnings missed expectations.