U.S. stock futures extended their losses in early Friday trading as a broad semiconductor selloff and escalating geopolitical conflict weighed heavily on investor sentiment.
U.S. military launched its sixth consecutive night of strikes on Iran, sparking wider Middle East conflict with Iranian retaliatory strikes hitting Qatar and driving up crude prices.
The weakness also follows warning signals from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, who hinted that the FOMC could reconsider its current 3.5%-3.75% target range if inflation fails to cool, citing lingering pressure from past tariffs and energy costs.
As of 4:00 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures fell 1.8%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.9%, Dow and Russell 2000 futures were down 0.6%.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, has moderated to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’ a day ago, while the, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, has remained ‘bullish’, despite the tech-heavy index tracking toward its worst month since March.
Trending Stocks To Watch
Nebius Group (NBIS) continued to trend alongside other AI infrastructure names such as MRVL, CRWV, IREN as investors rotated out of high-growth AI plays amid renewed concerns over capital spending and stretched valuations.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX): Shares tumbled over 8% in early premarket trade after the company issued soft guidance. However, the management maintained that the company's long-term growth story remains intact despite near-term content timing and major sporting events affecting comparisons.
SpaceX (SPCX) extended its post-IPO decline after the latest Starship launch was automatically aborted moments before liftoff because of engine issues.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA): Slid over 1% in early premarket trade. Tesla bull Gary Black noted that a collapsing SPCX valuation makes any speculative SpaceX-Tesla buyout math financially dilutive.
Sellas Life Sciences (SLS): Shares touched a July low ahead of its upcoming acute myeloid leukemia (AML) clinical trial readout, though bulls are expecting ‘stellar’ signals ahead of the CEO’s upcoming media appearance next week.
Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT): Shares fell over 2% in early premarket trade following the launch of its "Truth API" data subscription service designed to sell institutional Wall Street firms ultra-fast access to Donald Trump's posts.
Oil stocks (USO, BATL, TPET, XOM, CVX) remain on retail radar as escalating geopolitical headlines threaten global supply lines.
Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing included Micron Technologies (MU), Apple Inc (AAPL), Oracle (ORCL), and Rocket Lab USA (RKLB).
Other Catalysts To Watch
On the economic front, investors will be tracking the release of the housing starts and import price index at 8:30 am ET, followed by the readings on the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (preliminary) at 10:00 am ET.
On the earnings front, Regions Financial Corp (RF), Truist Financial Corporation (TFC), Travelers Companies Inc (TRV), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), Diginex (DGNX), and U.S. Gold Corp (USAU) are among those reporting today.