Thursday is shaping up to be a risk-off day on Wall Street, and it's not hard to see why. President Donald Trump has launched what he's calling "Operation Economic Fury" against Iran, and the markets are feeling the heat. Futures on the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 are all in the red, a reversal from Wednesday's higher close.

The President's aggressive economic offensive comes with a stark warning for any nation thinking about offering Tehran financial support. Add to that a tightening U.S. naval presence around the Strait of Hormuz, and you've got a recipe for rising geopolitical tensions. Brent crude is already reacting, pushing toward $92 a barrel.

Trump took to Truth Social to lay out the stakes in his typically colorful language: "Their navy is gone, their air force is destroyed, their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless, and their country is hanging by a thread." He called the effort an "economic D-Day."

Meanwhile, the bond market is sending its own signals. The 10-year Treasury yield is at 4.66%, while the two-year sits at 4.17%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, traders are pricing in a 32.8% chance that the Federal Reserve will hike rates at its September meeting. That's not a huge probability, but it's not nothing either.

Here's a quick look at where the major indices stand in premarket trading:

The ETFs that track these benchmarks are also lower. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is down 0.081% at $768.44, and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) has slipped 0.052% to $715.71.

Stocks In Focus

Coty

Coty Inc. (COTY) is having a rough morning, falling 5.61% after posting mixed fourth-quarter results. The company reported a loss of two cents per share, which was worse than the consensus estimate of a one-cent loss. According to MarketDash's Edge Stock Rankings, COTY shows a strong price trend in the short and medium terms but a weak trend over the long term.

Nordson

Nordson Corp. (NDSN) is a bright spot, jumping 7.16% after delivering better-than-expected third-quarter results and raising its FY26 guidance. The Edge rankings show NDSN with strong price trends across all timeframes and a moderate quality score.

Webull

Webull Corp. (BULL) is surging 14.35% after reporting second-quarter revenue of $198.83 million, up 51% year-over-year and above the $181.26 million estimate. Adjusted EPS of 5 cents also beat expectations of 3 cents. The Edge rankings indicate a strong price trend in the short and medium terms, but a weak long-term trend and a poor value score.

Moderna

Moderna Inc. (MRNA) is correcting by 11.57%, pulling back after Wednesday's massive 176.97% rally. That surge came after Moderna and Merck & Co Inc. (MRK) announced their personalized mRNA cancer vaccine succeeded in a Phase 3 melanoma trial, marking the first Phase 3 win for an mRNA-based cancer treatment. The Edge rankings show MRNA with strong price trends across all timeframes.

Walmart

Walmart Inc. (WMT) is up a hair (0.07%) as investors wait for its earnings report before the opening bell. Analysts are expecting earnings of 74 cents per share on revenue of $186.83 billion. The Edge rankings show WMT with a weak price trend across all timeframes, but a good growth score.

Cues From Last Session

Wednesday was a decent day for stocks, with the Dow Jones adding over 100 points. Health care, consumer discretionary, and materials led the S&P 500 gains, while industrials and information technology lagged. The move came after the Treasury doubled its long-dated debt buybacks, which helped pull yields off their 20-month highs.

Insights From Analysts

BlackRock is out with its latest take on the market, and it's a bit of a contrarian view. The firm sees the current environment as driven by structural shifts, not a typical business cycle. High corporate earnings growth and elevated long-term bond yields aren't contradictory; they're both symptoms of a "structurally higher cost of capital."

BlackRock remains overweight U.S. equities, citing strong corporate earnings and AI adoption. They expect U.S. corporate earnings to grow 11.6% annually over the next five years, a pace that's been achieved in "only about 15% of historical five-year periods." But that trajectory depends on "AI adoption boosting productivity and profit margins." Rather than broad market exposure, BlackRock recommends targeted plays in AI bottlenecks like power, chips, and data centers.

On the fixed income side, BlackRock is cautious. They see persistent inflation risks and higher government borrowing, and they're underweight long-term U.S. Treasuries. As they put it, "investors want more compensation for holding long-term bonds amid persistent inflation and high debt loads." Their advice: move away from long-duration government debt and into short- to medium-term bonds, private credit, and infrastructure equity.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what's on the economic calendar for Thursday:

• August's Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey and weekly jobless claims for the week ending Aug. 15, both due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• July's leading indicators data, out at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Oil is climbing on the Iran news. WTI crude futures are up 2.29% in early New York trading, hovering around $86.32 per barrel. Gold is down 0.72% to about $4,490.65 per ounce, and the U.S. Dollar Index is off 0.13% at 98.7030.

In crypto, Bitcoin (BTC) is having a moment, trading 11.20% higher at $71,657.52 over the last 24 hours.

Globally, Asian markets were mostly higher on Thursday, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng, China's CSI 300, Australia's ASX 200, India's Nifty 50, Japan's Nikkei 225, and South Korea's Kospi all in the green. European markets, however, were mostly lower in early trading.

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