U.S. stock futures slipped early Thursday as a fifth straight day of American strikes on Iran and renewed weakness in chip stocks kept investors cautious. Nasdaq futures led the declines while traders waited on jobless claims, retail sales and Netflix earnings.
U.S. stock futures traded under mild pressure before Thursday's open as investors weighed escalating Middle East tensions against the previous session's encouraging inflation signals and strong bank earnings. The pullback stayed shallow, but the direction pointed lower across the major benchmarks.
Futures point lower across the board
As of 4:00 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures declined 0.5%, Russell 2000 futures fell 0.3%, S&P 500 futures dropped 0.1%, and Dow futures were flat with a negative bias. The order of the losses tracked the sector story: the tech-heavy Nasdaq took the hardest hit as semiconductor stocks slid.
The chip weakness spread from Asia, where SK Hynix's newly listed ADR tumbled over 11% in Seoul, leading a broader Asian semiconductor rout. Even so, the sector's picture stayed mixed: Taiwan Semiconductor posted blowout June-quarter earnings on booming AI demand and formalized a $100 billion plan to build four more U.S. fabrication plants.
Iran strikes and the AI-spending debate
Underpinning the caution, U.S. military strikes on Iran continued for a fifth straight day, with Tehran threatening retaliation and vowing to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz. That raised concerns over potential disruptions to global energy supplies.
At the same time, investors debated whether AI infrastructure spending has run too hot. The 'Big Short' investor Michael Burry mocked the data-center boom, calling it a "Fantasy," while President Donald Trump described data centers as future "money machines" capable of generating jobs and tax revenue.
Data and earnings on deck
Traders now turn to a busy calendar. Investors will track the U.S. initial jobless claims, retail sales, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index and pending home sales. On the earnings front, Abbott, UnitedHealth and U.S. Bancorp report before the bell, while Netflix reports after the close with investors watching subscriber trends and its advertising momentum.
Source: TradingView
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