New York, June 12, 2026, 06:03 ET
- U.S. stock futures posted slight gains ahead of the open, with S&P 500 futures adding 0.2% and Dow futures up 0.4%. Nasdaq futures hovered near unchanged levels.
- Brent crude slid over 4% to $86.57 a barrel. WTI slipped to $83.91. Traders pulled back on Iran supply worries.
- Traders are watching SpaceX’s record $75 billion IPO along with May’s hotter-than-expected producer inflation, both key to markets’ risk mood today.
U.S. stocks looked ready to open higher on Friday, with futures sticking close to unchanged after a big rally the day before. S&P 500 futures added 0.2% and Dow futures rose 0.4%. Nasdaq futures were flat, based on early numbers from AP. On Thursday, the Dow climbed 929.97 points, or 1.86%. The S&P 500 was up 1.75% to 7,394.30. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.54% to 25,809.66.
Oil prices tumbled in early trading after President Donald Trump scrapped planned strikes on Iran and said a peace agreement, which could reopen the Strait of Hormuz, might happen as soon as this weekend. Brent futures dropped 4.22% to $86.57 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude fell 4.33% to $83.91, the lowest for both since April 17. “Headlines are driving the market once again,” PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga told Reuters. ING analysts said oil could still spike later if normal flows aren’t back before late July. Reuters
US ETF futures pointed higher early as some buyers showed renewed interest in risk. At 6:00 a.m. ET, Investing.com quoted SPY up 0.61%, QQQ up 0.51%, DIA ahead 0.84%, and IWM up 0.83%. Premarket names trading on volume: AMD up 1.96%, Nvidia 0.62% higher, Tesla added 0.40%, and Alphabet Class A climbed 1.51%. Micron edged down 0.77%. Adobe fell 4.71% premarket, one of the larger drops.
Relief bounced into the market but inflation still isn’t cooling. The Producer Price Index rose 1.1% in May, outpacing the 0.7% increase expected in a Reuters poll. The index jumped 6.5% from a year ago, the biggest annual gain since November 2022. “The Fed is missing its inflation target,” John Ryding, chief economic advisor at Brean Capital, said. Ryding said the PPI data could push some Fed policymakers to back a rate hike later this year. Reuters
SpaceX grabbed attention in early trading hours, setting its IPO price at $135 per share. The offering raised $75 billion from 555.56 million shares, setting its valuation at $1.77 trillion and claiming the top spot for largest IPO globally. Reuters says Nasdaq may not open the stock for trading until midday while it works through orders. The market is also keeping an eye on the deal as an early test for appetite in upcoming AI IPOs from Anthropic and OpenAI.
Wall Street is divided on whether to buy the SpaceX IPO and the bounce in AI stocks. Oppenheimer started coverage with an outperform and a $190 target, with analyst Timothy Horan calling SpaceX the “only vertically integrated AI company” that has all the needed capital, data, models, hardware, manufacturing and engineering staff. Reuters reported Morningstar analysts recently put SpaceX’s value at about $780 billion, less than half the IPO price, pointing to doubts about its AI and social-media growth. Reuters
Investors considering new money today might want to be picky rather than bold. Long-term buyers looking for broad-market exposure could still find staggered entries attractive, especially if cooling oil prices help with inflation and support margins. But piling in after a sharp move higher in AI, chip names or SpaceX-linked stocks is risky, especially with one-day rallies, hot producer inflation numbers, and Iran headlines unresolved. Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said retail traders are “the most vulnerable if momentum reverses,” adding that SpaceX could see better entry points later. Reuters
The early read on University of Michigan consumer sentiment comes at 10:00 a.m. ET. Investing.com has consensus at 46.1, up from 44.8 last time. If the number is strong, it could feed the soft-landing view. But traders say inflation expectations on the survey could have more impact now, with the market already debating if the Fed can hold steady after this week’s PPI surprise.
