New York, July 9, 2026, 09:03 (EDT)
Stock futures in the U.S. traded mixed early Thursday. The Nasdaq was set to open higher as chip stocks attracted bids, but the Dow slipped after the latest rise in U.S.-Iran tensions. Index futures had the Nasdaq up 0.5%, S&P 500 up 0.1% and Dow down 0.1%, according to AP.
Timing is key here. Nasdaq trades in its main session from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, with premarket kicking off at 4 a.m. July 9 was the Thursday after the Independence Day holiday, and it was a regular trading day in the U.S.
S&P 500 lost 0.28% to 7,482.71 after Trump said the Iran peace deal is “over.” The Dow closed down 1.09% at 52,348.39. Chip shares pushed the Nasdaq up 0.20% to 25,870.65. Markets had been reeling from the surprise Wednesday announcement. Reuters
Oil is the main pressure point. The U.S. military said it carried out more strikes on Iran to keep shipping flowing in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran hit back with attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, according to Reuters. Before the conflict, roughly 20% of global oil and LNG—liquefied natural gas—passed through the strait.
Brent crude was up 53 cents to $78.55 a barrel by 1148 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate added 39 cents to $73.91. Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen called it a “very nervous market.” Aneeka Gupta at WisdomTree said Brent will likely hold in a $75-$85 range in the coming month. Reuters
Futures are only seeing a slight rebound. Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said “duration is the key here,” and noted that a hit to Iranian infrastructure could trigger a bigger market move. The downside scenario, he said, is more attacks, increased fuel prices, travel stocks under pressure, and less space for the Fed to cut. Reuters
The Fed took a more cautious stance. Minutes from the June meeting showed officials kept rates at 3.50%-3.75%. Some Fed members saw arguments to hike rates, and traders were expecting at least one more 25-basis-point increase by year-end—a quarter-point rise.
Chip shares propped up the broader market. Broadcom jumped 4.8% Wednesday after Apple said it would spend over $30 billion in a chip-supply deal. Nvidia finished up 3.65%. Meta dropped 2% Wednesday and kept falling in premarket after Reuters reported it will roll out its own AI chip in September.
PepsiCo gave a read on demand. The company’s Q2 revenue was up 6.4% at $24.18 billion, beating forecasts. But softer North America sales dragged as shoppers were more cautious. Organic revenue, excluding FX and deals, climbed 2.4%. Full-year guidance stays unchanged.
Levi Strauss didn’t impress. The company boosted its adjusted EPS guidance to $1.46-$1.52, up from $1.42-$1.48, but the FactSet analyst estimate was $1.51. Shares dropped in after-hours trading, WSJ said.
SK Hynix’s U.S.-listed shares are scheduled to start trading Friday, putting the AI rally to another test. The South Korean memory-chip firm priced a $28 billion U.S. share sale that was more than seven times oversubscribed, Reuters reported, as investors looked past recent tech volatility and bought into a key Nvidia supplier and AI expansion play.
Right now, traders aren’t fleeing risk, just pulling it in. Tyler Rosenlicht, who leads natural-resource equities at Cohen & Steers, summed it up in the WSJ: “It’s really tough to be confident in anything.” The Wall Street Journal
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