Equities Rise Pre-Bell as Chip Stocks Extend Gains
US equity futures were tracking in the green on Tuesday amid continued momentum in artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks.The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq added 0.8% in premarket activity. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished Monday trading higher, while the Dow closed in the red for a second consecutive session.OpenAI said on Monday it has confidentially filed for a potential initial public offering in the US, after similar moves last week by AI firm Anthropic and rocket and satellite company SpaceX.OpenAI hasn't decided on the timing of the IPO yet, according to a blog post. "It may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company," the tech firm added.Shares of Qualcomm (QCOM) increased 2.8% pre-bell, while Intel (INTC) inclined 2.2% after an 11% jump at the close of Monday. Micron Technology (MU) added 4.1% following a 9.9% increase in the previous session, while Nvidia (NVDA) was up 0.7%. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gained 2.5% before the bell after closing the previous session up 5.1%, while Broadcom (AVGO) increased 1.1%."In our view, volatility in technology stocks is likely to continue, although the (artificial intelligence) investment boom appears robust," D.A. Davidson said in a report on Monday. "We continue to expect a broadening of gains supporting sector diversification in portfolios."West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 2.1% to $89.37 a barrel before the opening bell, while Brent moved down 1.6% to $92.73.Iran and Israel reportedly suspended strikes against each other, although Tehran vowed to resume attacks if Israel continues to target Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. In a social media post, President Donald Trump said both Israel and Iran were "looking to do an immediate ceasefire.""Overall, the situation remains fragile, and for the oil market, the status quo holds: global inventories continue to draw, with analysts increasingly convinced that inventories will reach dangerously low levels by the end of June (if not sooner)," Tudor Pickering Holt Analyst Matt Portillo said in a note.Treasury yields were mixed in premarket action, with the two-year rate retreating 1.1 basis points to 4.15% while the 10-year rate rose 0.6 basis points to 4.56%.Tuesday's economic calendar has the international trade in goods and services report for April at 8:30 am ET, followed by the existing home sales report for May at 10 am. The National Federation of Independent Business small business optimism index posted a 0.6-point decrease for May to 95.3.J.M. Smucker (SJM), SailPoint (SAIL), United Natural Foods (UNFI) and Academy Sports and Outdoors (ASO) report their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Casey's General Stores (CASY) posts earnings after the markets close.Gold slipped 0.1% to $4,359 per troy ounce, while bitcoin fell 1.1% to $62,725.
