New York, June 2, 2026, 06:05 EDT
- Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped early, ahead of the regular Tuesday open for cash markets.
- HPE surged almost 29% in premarket trading as rising AI server demand led the company to accelerate its long-term financial targets.
- Traders watch for JOLTS job openings at 10:00 a.m. ET, with the May jobs report out Friday.
Futures for U.S. stock indexes slipped Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 taking a breather after hitting fresh highs. Hewlett Packard Enterprise jumped in premarket trading, keeping AI stocks in focus. Futures offer an early signal on where stocks might open.
Street is weighing whether the AI-fueled rally will spread out or if high prices, sticky inflation, and geopolitical risk start to drag. Nasdaq says premarket goes 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET. Regular trading runs 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. June 2 isn’t on the 2026 U.S. stock-market holiday list.
Dow Jones futures lost 143 points, or 0.28%, at 50,991 early, according to Markets Insider at 5:04 a.m. ET. Nasdaq 100 futures were off 34.25 points, or 0.11%, at 30,532, while S&P 500 futures slipped 10.25 points, or 0.13%, to 7,603.
Stocks eased back after Monday’s record finish. The Dow ended up 46.42 points, or 0.09%, at 51,078.88. The S&P 500 climbed 19.90 points, or 0.26%, to 7,599.96, while the Nasdaq Composite closed higher by 114.19 points, or 0.42%, at 27,086.81. Tech was up 2.5%, but most other S&P 500 sectors lagged.
HPE surged almost 29% in premarket after the company boosted its fiscal 2026 revenue-growth target to 29% to 33%, up from 17% to 22%. The company also hiked its networking growth outlook to 72% to 75%. Dell Technologies gained 3% and Super Micro Computer rose 5%, with both names moving on the server trade.
HPE CFO Marie Myers told Reuters most of the quarter’s gains came from the standard server segment as enterprise clients picked up agentic AI tools, which run with less human input, as a main workload. Myers said HPE had been “agile” with passing cost hikes onto customers. Reuters
Alphabet is another AI name in focus, but the move wasn’t all positive. The Google owner plans to raise $80 billion in equity, with $10 billion coming from Berkshire Hathaway, after bumping its yearly capital spending outlook to $180 billion to $190 billion back in April. Shares dropped about 2% in after-hours trade.
Steven Check, who runs Check Capital Management, said companies like having Berkshire as an investor. Bill Stone at Glenview Trust pointed to the fresh Berkshire buying, saying Greg Abel must think Alphabet will get a “reasonable return” from its AI capital spending, even as Alphabet sells more stock. Alphabet said it’s seeing demand for AI services outpace available supply. Reuters
Nvidia was still at the heart of trading. The stock jumped 6.3% Monday after it showed off a new chip meant to bring AI tools straight into PCs. CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia built it with Microsoft to “reinvent the PC” for AI. Qualcomm dropped 8.8% and Intel slipped 4.7%. The chip moves pulled stocks both ways. Reuters
Busy week on the data front. The Labor Department puts out its JOLTS report for April at 10:00 a.m. ET, tracking job openings, separations and hires. The May jobs report lands Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Job openings were last at 6.866 million in March, per the BLS.
Oil slipped as worries over inflation cooled. Brent crude dropped over 1% to hover near $94 a barrel after President Donald Trump signaled that talks with Iran were still going, even as Reuters said Tehran had paused indirect negotiations. Investors stayed careful. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield shed 4.4 basis points to 4.43%.
That’s the risk traders are watching. If the conflict in the Middle East keeps going, oil could spike again, pushing inflation higher, just as most have factored out Fed rate cuts for 2026. “We don’t really know where things stand,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT in Atlanta, talking about the U.S.-Iran situation. A weak jobs report or hawkish Fed comments could give markets a reason to sell off fast. Reuters
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