US Markets
Stocks Fall Pre-Bell Amid Renewed US-Iran Tensions; Key Inflation, Economic Data on Deck
The main US stock measures were trending lower in Thursday's premarket activity amid renewed tensions in the Middle East, while traders await key inflation and economic data.The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.1% each before the opening bell, while the Nasdaq was off 0.2%. The indexes finished Wednesday's trading session with fresh highs.Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday it targeted a US airbase, CNBC reported, citing Tehran's semi-official Tasnim news agency.The reported attack came after a US official told MS Now on Wednesday that US forces carried out strikes against a military site believed to threaten its troops and commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 1.7% to $90.21 a barrel in premarket action, while Brent rose 1.6% to $95.81.President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that no single country will control the crucial Strait of Hormuz, according to Bloomberg News. "Nobody's going to control it, it's international waters," Trump reportedly said at the White House. "The strait's going to be open to everybody," and the US will "watch over it," he added.Earlier on Wednesday, Trump expressed confidence that the US would be able to reach a deal to end the conflict, but he is not yet satisfied with the terms, CNN reported. Iranian state TV previously claimed that a draft memorandum on ending the conflict calls for the US to withdraw its military forces and lift the naval blockade in return for reopening the Strait of Hormuz within a month. However, the White House dismissed it as a "complete fabrication," according to CNN.The personal income and outlays report for April is due to be released at 8:30 am ET. The report includes the personal consumption expenditure core price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric.Treasury yields were moving higher before the open, with the two-year rate gaining 2.7 basis points to 4.06% and the 10-year rate adding 1.2 basis points to 4.49%.Thursday's economic calendar also has the second estimate report of the first-quarter gross domestic product at 8:30 am, along with the weekly jobless claims bulletin and the durable goods orders report for last month. The new home sales report for April is out at 10 am, followed by the EIA domestic petroleum inventories report at 12 pm.New York Fed President John Williams is slated to speak at 8:55 am, while St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem speaks at 10:15 am. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin's remarks are due at 3 pm.Shares of Snowflake (SNOW) jumped 38% pre-bell after the cloud-based data platform lifted its full-year product revenue outlook and agreed to a $6 billion infrastructure spending deal with Amazon's (AMZN) cloud platform. Salesforce (CRM) declined nearly 2% as the company issued a soft fiscal second-quarter outlook.Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Synopsys (SNPS) dropped 3.3% and 2.8%, respectively, following their latest quarterly results.Burlington Stores (BURL), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Li Auto (LI), XPeng (XPEV), Best Buy (BBY) and Hormel Foods (HRL) are expected to release their earnings before the bell, among others. Costco Wholesale (COST), Dell Technologies (DELL) and MongoDB (MDB) are scheduled to announce their results after the markets close.Gold fell 1.1% to $4,400 per troy ounce, while bitcoin slipped 2.2% to $73,258.
Dow JonesNasdaq CompositeS&P 500$BBY$BURL$COST$CRM$DELL$DLTR$HRL$LI$MDB$MRVL$SNOW$SNPS$XPEV
