U.S. stock futures climbed in overnight trading late Monday as gains in semiconductor stocks ahead of a busy week of Big Tech earnings helped offset investor concerns over the renewed U.S.-Iran conflict, which entered its tenth consecutive night with American military strikes targeting sites in the Middle Eastern nation.
Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.39%, Dow futures were up 0.10%, and S&P 500 futures rose 0.17% at 9:29 PM EDT. Among ETFs tracking benchmark indexes, the , the , and the all edged higher at the time of writing.
The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) was up 0.04% amid ‘neutral’ sentiment.
How Did US Markets Fare On Monday?
U.S. stock markets closed lower on Monday as rising oil prices amid the escalating tensions in the Middle East weighed on returns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average led the declines, shedding over 300 points to close down 0.59% lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.19%, while the Nasdaq was 0.05% lower at the close.
| IndexMoveClose | Dow Jones Industrial Average-0.59%51,839.26 | S&P 500-0.19%7,443.28 | Nasdaq Composite-0.05%25,508.07 |
Semiconductor stocks, however, edged higher this week. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was up 0.41% at close, reversing three consecutive days of declines.
US Market Drivers
U.S. markets closed in the red on Monday amid rising concerns around the war in the Middle East and consequent increase in oil prices. Brent crude climbed above $90 a barrel on Monday.
President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” The comments come after three U.S. service members died in the recent conflict in the Middle East over the weekend. Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X that a fresh round of attacks on Iran were conducted on Monday evening.
“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” it said.
“Investors still don’t think Trump has the tolerance for a material escalation of the U.S. force posture in the Middle East (i.e. deploying troops) and if that’s the case, then some type of a diplomatic resolution is inevitable,” wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge, according to a report from CNBC.
Meanwhile, chip stocks gained on Monday, with Micron Technology Inc. (MU), Broadcom Inc. (AVGO), and Intel Corp. (INTC) rising about 2% at close, while memory chipmaker Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) climbed over 2.6%.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose 0.45% at close, while the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXQ) gained 0.61%.
James E. Thorne, chief market strategist at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, said in a post on X, “No, the AI trade is not over. Yes memory is a buy.”
However, not all analysts are positive that the AI trade will make a comeback. Yardeni Research pointed to the return of “DeepSeek fears” in a post on X on Monday, noting that markets were “spooked” by Moonshot's Kimi K3 model launch. “The SOXX and S&P 500 Semis index could slide 12% more to key technical support,” it said.
On the earnings front, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) and Tesla Inc. (TSLA) are slated to report their second-quarter (Q2) results on Wednesday and chip giant Intel will also report its Q2 results on Thursday. General Motors Co. (GM), AT&T, Inc. (T), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW), and Verizon Communications, Inc. (VZ) will also post results this week.
Trending Stocks To Watch
IREN Ltd. (IREN): The AI cloud provider’s shares jumped by over 19% at close on Monday after it raised its year-end AI Cloud annualized run-rate revenue target from $3.7 billion to more than $4 billion following new multi-year contracts worth $2.8 billion in total contract value.
Archer Aviation Inc. (ACHR): The eVTOL company jumped nearly 20% at close and continued to climb overnight amid the announcement of an autonomous VTOL aircraft platform for both defense and commercial applications alongside Anduril.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA): Elon Musk’s EV company was on the retail radar ahead of its earnings results expected on Wednesday.
Boeing Co. (BA): The aircraft-maker garnered attention after it announced that SMBC Aviation Capital had ordered 100 737 MAX airplanes.
Global Market Trends
Crude oil prices declined late Monday, with Brent crude futures expiring in September down about 0.85% to $88.46 per barrel, reversing from its climb to over $90 per barrel during the day. Meanwhile, WTI crude futures expiring in August also fell 0.3% to $82.98 per barrel.
Yields on the 10-year Treasury were at 4.592% at the time of writing, while spot gold prices were trading at $4,029.09 per ounce.
Asian markets were trading mixed at the open on Monday, with South Korea's KOSPI, Japan’s Nikkei 225, and China’s SSE Composite index climbing at the time of writing due to the strong chip sector performance. However, Australian stocks were trading in the red at the open.