U.S. stock futures were in the red Thursday morning, giving back some of the prior session's gains as investors weighed geopolitical developments and a busy slate of economic data.
President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate, even as U.S. forces launched a second wave of strikes against Iranian military targets. The Treasury also announced new sanctions targeting an international network accused of procuring weapons for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, following attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
On the economic front, the 10-year Treasury yield sat at 4.57%, while the two-year yield was at 4.15%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, markets are pricing an 89.8% probability that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged at its July meeting.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower in premarket. SPY was down 0.061% at $754.35, while QQQ declined 0.29% to $715.68.
Agape ATP
- Agape ATP Corp. (ATPC) surged 55.56% following an SEC filing that disclosed a new stake held by proprietary trading firm and liquidity provider Jane Street Group LLC.
AST SpaceMobile
- AST SpaceMobile Inc. (ASTS) tumbled 10.01% after the company announced a $1.0 billion proposed public offering of Convertible Senior Notes.
Growhub
- Growhub Ltd. (TGHL) gained 33.89% after the company announced a $400 million merger agreement with EnChem.
AtaiBeckley
Cues From Last Session
Consumer discretionary, financial, and communication services stocks recorded the biggest gains on Wednesday, while utilities and energy stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing lower.
Insights From Analysts
BlackRock remains tactically constructive on the U.S. stock market while navigating a fundamentally transformed economic landscape. In its commentary, the firm maintains an overweight position on U.S. equities, noting that "strong corporate earnings, fueled by the AI buildout and a favorable macro backdrop, are outpacing higher interest rate expectations."
Within equities, BlackRock advises focusing closely on AI bottleneck opportunities such as power, chips, and data centers.
Regarding the broader economy and policy environment, BlackRock emphasizes that a structural shift has taken hold, reinforcing its view that "the global rates reset is real and significant."
The firm cautions that underlying inflation remains too firm to confidently return to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, which will likely keep the central bank on hold.
In this "new regime" of elevated rates, fixed-income dynamics have changed. While higher yields have made durable income an opportunity again, BlackRock warns that long-term bonds are "less reliable diversifiers." Consequently, the firm prefers the front end and belly of the U.S. yield curve, advising investors to target areas where they are best compensated for risk.
Upcoming Economic Data
Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on this Thursday.
- June's Retail Sales data, July's Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey, and initial jobless claims for the week ending July 11 will all be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
- May's Manufacturing and Trade inventories and sales data, July's NAHB Housing Market Index, and June's Pending Home Sales index data will be out by 10:00 a.m. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan will speak at 12:30 p.m., and Fed Governor Philip Jefferson will speak at a Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research event at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets
Crude Oil WTI futures were trading lower in the early New York session, down 0.08% to hover around $79.54 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.65% to hover around $4,033.80 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.05% higher at 100.5320.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading 1.00% lower at $64,042.02 per coin over the last 24 hours.
Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, except Hong Kong's Hang Seng and India's Nifty 50 indices. China's CSI 300, Australia's ASX 200, South Korea's Kospi, and Japan's Nikkei 225 indices fell. European markets were mostly lower in early trade.
