Stocks Fall Pre-Bell Ahead of Alphabet, Tesla Earnings
The main US stock measures were pointing lower in Wednesday's premarket activity as investors await the latest financial results of technology giants Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Tesla (TSLA) and monitor the ongoing Middle East conflict.The S&P 500 declined 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.1% and the Nasdaq was off 0.7% before the opening bell. The indexes ended Tuesday trading higher following a three-day slump.Google parent Alphabet and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla are scheduled to report their quarterly earnings after the markets close, along with Texas Instruments (TXN), IBM (IBM), ServiceNow (NOW) and CSX (CSX).Philip Morris International (PM), GE Vernova (GE), AT&T (T), Northern Trust (NTRS) and RPM International (RPM) are expected to post their results before the bell, among others.West Texas Intermediate crude oil gained 4.2% to $87.91 a barrel in premarket action, while Brent increased 4.1% to $94.76.The US Central Command said Tuesday its forces completed another round of strikes against Iran as part of attempts to degrade its ability to threaten commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.At the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in the Philippines on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of not being serious about peace talks with the US, CNBC reported.Rubio reportedly said a key sticking point in talks with Iran was Tehran's demand for the right to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that allowing any country to control an international waterway would set a dangerous precedent.Treasury yields were mixed before the open, with the two-year rate down 0.1 basis points to 4.26% while the 10-year rate inclined 0.2 basis points to 4.63%.In a social media post on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the import of all generic drugs into the US will be subject to zero tariffs for a two-year period, effective Aug. 1. Tariffs on the drugs would then rise to 100% for one year before increasing to 200% thereafter, according to Trump."This is done in order to reshore generic pharmaceutical production into America, with a penalty to those companies that decide not to build plant and equipment within the stated period of time given to them," Trump said.Wednesday's economic calendar has the weekly mortgage applications bulletin at 7 am ET, followed by the weekly EIA domestic petroleum inventories report at 10:30 am.Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) jumped 17% before the bell after the company said it received more than $60 billion in new orders during its fiscal fourth quarter and raised its gross margin outlook. Dell Technologies gained 4.6% after closing the previous session up 6%.Alaska Air (ALK) decreased 1.3% as the airline issued a downbeat third-quarter earnings outlook and swung to a second-quarter loss. Rocket Lab (RKLB) advanced 4.5%.Gold traded up 1.2% at $4,124 per troy ounce, while bitcoin was down 0.7% at $65,922.