- Escalating U.S.-Iran tensions rattled risk appetite and pushed oil prices sharply higher.
- The S&P 500’s break below its 200-day moving average is adding to concerns of a deeper market pullback.
- Bitcoin fell below $69,000, hitting its lowest level since early March, while Gold touched a three-month low.
U.S. stock futures were under pressure early Monday amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, keeping markets on edge. This cautious sentiment follows a turbulent week, which saw the S&P 500 break below its 200-day moving average for the first time since May.
Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face an “obliteration” of its power plants. Iran countered this by warning of retaliatory attacks on U.S. Gulf infrastructure.
As of 4:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Dow futures fell 0.5%, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures declined 0.7%, and Russell 2000 futures were down over 1%.
Caution prevails among the traders. Retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, remained ‘extremely bearish, and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, has remained ‘bearish’ amid high trading volume.
Bitcoin crashed below $69,000, while gold hit a three-month low. Brent crude traded above $113 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate hovered near $100. Oil stocks such as Trio Petroleum (TPET) and EON Resources (EONR) rose above 10% in early pre-market trading.
Trending Stocks To Watch
Tesla (TSLA): Elon Musk has unveiled plans for a $25 billion ‘Terafab’ chip facility in Texas but analysts are questioning its feasibility.
Nvidia (NVDA): The AI bellwether is facing some scrutiny on reports that it may tweak its next-gen chip design due to limited access to TSMC’s cutting-edge A16 node.
Super Micro Computer (SMCI): The stock is attracting significant retail attention following U.S. indictments alleging unauthorized shipments of AI servers to China. It is down nearly 5% in early pre-market trade.
Synopsys (SNPS): Elliott Investment Management has reportedly built a multimillion-dollar stake and plans to push for corporate changes.
Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (FFAI): The stock has surged by more than 50% in early pre-market trading. Over the weekend, the company announced that the SEC has concluded its years-long Investigation with no action against any personnel.
Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing included AleAnna (ANNA), Boeing Co (BA), First Majestic Silver (AG), and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT).
Other Catalysts To Watch
On the economic front, investors will be tracking the Construction Spending data at 10:00 am ET.
On earnings radar, watch out for quarterly reports from BioLine (BLRX), Caledonia Mining (CMCL), WeRide Inc (WRD) before the bell and Abivax (ABVX) and AGI Inc (AGBK), among others, after the market close today.
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