US Stock Futures Mixed as Apple and Palantir Slide on Election Day

US stock index futures were mixed on Tuesday, Election Day, as Apple fell 4.5 percent in premarket trading and Palantir slid 6.3 percent. Crude oil prices ticked up, and investors waited for the results of the midterm elections.

At 05:06 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 219 points, or 0.42 percent. S&P 500 E-minis were up 1.5 points, or 0.02 percent, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 130.5 points, or 0.46 percent.

Apple slides on margin warning

Apple warned that the cost of memory chips would continue to rise, pressuring its holiday-quarter gross margin. The company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue, but iPad sales fell short of estimates and its margin forecast disappointed investors. CNBC's check put the stock 4.4 percent lower.

The earnings statement was Apple's first since John Ternus took over as chief executive from Tim Cook in September. The company said Monday that memory costs were higher this quarter than in the June period. Ternus described the year just capped to CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos as the "best fiscal year ever."

Apple shares have risen 25 percent in 2026, ahead of other big tech names. Violeta Todorova, senior research analyst at Leverage Shares, said: "The concern is profitability." She said that rise left "little room for disappointment."

Palantir falls despite a higher forecast

Palantir forecast revenue above estimates for the last three months of the year after topping third-quarter expectations, but its shares fell 6.3 percent in premarket trading. The drop was 6 percent at CNBC's earlier check. Palantir beat Wall Street third-quarter estimates, and its US commercial revenue topped government revenue for the first time.

Nasdaq-100 confirms a correction

On Monday, the Nasdaq-100 closed more than 10 percent lower than its all-time closing high, confirming that the tech-heavy index has entered a correction. Investors have grown wary of Big Tech's soaring artificial intelligence spending and see little evidence of adequate returns.

In Monday's regular session, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.07 percent and the S&P 500 declined 0.51 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.41 percent. Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note earlier this week that the elections should help remove a major market overhang, and that the US market correction that began in June was in its final innings.

Other movers and the day ahead

Nvidia climbed 1.6 percent after falling for the last four sessions. Apple surpassed Nvidia last week to become the world's most valuable company. AMD gained 2.8 percent ahead of its quarterly earnings due after the bell, while Marvell Technology and Intel moved higher. Aehr Test Systems gained 14.6 percent and Harmonic added 16.1 percent after both raised their full-year revenue forecasts.

Pfizer, Archer-Daniels-Midland and Marathon Petroleum were set to report earnings before the bell on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 4.91 percent. Dow Jones Newswires put the rise at 1.4 basis points to just below 4.910 percent, with two-year yields close to 4.600 percent and 30-year yields around 5.285 percent.

Polls and nonpartisan analysts favor Democrats to wrest the House from Republicans, while control of the Senate remains uncertain. Societe Generale analysts said in a note: "Concerns around government spending and deficits have continued to build, contributing to market volatility."

This is not financial advice. Do your own due diligence.