S&P 500 futures slipped before Thursday’s open while Dow futures edged higher, splitting the two benchmarks ahead of a heavy earnings calendar. Volatility futures jumped and Treasury yields rose as investors took stock of the AI boom while an escalating US-Iran conflict continued to weigh.
S&P 500 futures were down 0.24% with U.S. markets set to open in two hours, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.18%. The split left the two headline gauges pointing in opposite directions before the bell.
Individual names drove the early action. Ermenegildo Zegna climbed 10.9% in pre-market trading, and J.B. Hunt Transport Services rose 6.8%. UnitedHealth Group, Definium Therapeutics, and Pegasystems each posted gains of at least 5%.
Not every stock advanced. In early trading, AST SpaceMobile and Sandisk fell 10.4% and 6.9%, respectively.
Risk gauges pushed higher into the open, led by a jump in the volatility index. The Cboe Volatility Index futures were up 5.03%, and the 10-Year Treasury yield rose to 4.580%. In commodities, Brent crude oil futures were down 0.44% and gold futures were down 0.50%.
The moves followed a mixed overnight session abroad. Japan’s NIKKEI 225 fell 2.79% and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 1.85%, while Europe’s STOXX 600 declined 0.54% in afternoon trading.
Behind the caution sat a packed session. According to Yahoo Finance, US stocks wavered as investors weighed the AI boom and an escalation in the US-Iran war. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s results offered a fresh demand signal on the artificial-intelligence build-out.
UnitedHealth Group and GE Aerospace were due to report before the bell, while Netflix’s second-quarter report headlines the calendar after the close. Retail sales and jobless-claims data were both due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Sources: Barron’s, Yahoo Finance
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