US stock futures dip amid Middle East tensions
Stock futures declined on Friday as investors kept a close watch on the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel and the possibility of direct U.S. involvement.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 70 points, or 0.1%. Nasdaq 100 futures ticked down 0.2%, along with S&P 500 futures, News.Az reports, citing CNBC.
U.S. markets were closed Thursday for the Juneteenth holiday.
Investors remain jittery as the conflict between Israel and Iran has yet to cool. President Donald Trump is weighing direct U.S. involvement with a strike on Tehran, with the White House on Thursday saying that he will make a final decision within the next two weeks. Trump previously called for Tehran’s complete surrender, to which Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, labeled the notion “threatening and ridiculous.”
International benchmark Brent slid more than 2% on Friday, while U.S. crude gained 0.7%. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly ordering Jerusalem’s military to strike “strategic targets” in Iran, as well as “government targets.”
“There are several key questions to answer before we know how stocks will handle this geopolitical shock, including how much of Iran’s energy infrastructure will be impaired and for how long, whether Iran’s nuclear capabilities will be completely wiped out, and whether the current regime will remain in power,” said Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial.
The still-simmering tension in the Middle East comes as investors also weighed comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday, following the central banks decision to hold interest rates steady. Stocks closed lower following Powell’s comments, which essentially said that the Fed is in no hurry to cut benchmark rates and will remain data dependent, especially as it remains unclear how Trump’s tariffs will impact the economy.
Trump ripped into Powell again Thursday, saying the Fed Chair is costing the U.S. “hundreds of billions of dollars” by delaying rate cuts.
For the week, the S&P 500 is up marginally with a gain of 0.07%. The 30-stock Dow has lost 0.06%, while the Nasdaq has advanced about 1%.
On the economic front, investors will monitor the Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing survey on Friday morning, followed by the Conference Board’s leading economic indicators reading for May.
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