Stock futures declined early Thursday, with investors set to give back some of the gains that took the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to fresh record highs in the previous session. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.2%, along with Nasdaq 100 futures. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Averagehad fallen 222 points, or 0.5%. Some of the biggest movers on Thursday included IBM and ServiceNow, which were respectively trading 7% and 13% lower after reporting their latest results. Shares of Teslainitially rose on better-than-expected earnings. However, the stock later shed about 3% when CEO Elon Musk warned capital expenses would rise “substantially” as the electric vehicle maker moves into AI-powered self-driving cars and humanoid robots. Both the broad market index and tech-heavy Nasdaq finished at record levels on Wednesday after President Donald Trump extended the U.S. ceasefire with Iran. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 1.05% and 1.64%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Averagegained 340.65 points, or 0.69%. Late Tuesday afternoon, Trump said that the ceasefire extension was warranted due to Tehran’s government being “seriously fractured.” Still, geopolitical relations in the region remain tense. A lack of commitment from Iran reportedly resulted in Vice President JD Vance pausing his trip to join peace talks. Iran state media also reported that Tehran negotiators said they wouldn’t be present, calling talks with the U.S. a “waste of time.” And on Wednesday, Iran’s navy said that it had seized two container ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Investor sentiment has also been strengthened by a strong earnings season so far. Of the 87 S&P companies that have reported so far, 81% have reported an earnings beat, while 76% have reported revenue that surprised to the upside. “The thing that’s really difficult is we keep getting these very, very intense news headlines that give everyone a lot of pause, everyone a lot of heartburn. But at the end of the day, earnings estimates continue to rise, and that really kind of indicates that businesses are figuring out a way to muddle through all of this noise and manage through this uncertainty in a way that they can still deliver profit growth,” said Julie Biel, chief market strategist at Kayne Anderson Rudnick, on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Wednesday afternoon. Traders will also watch out for April’s S&P Global PMI manufacturing and services preliminary readings. Treasury yields were little changed on Thursday as investors await updates on the resumption of U.S.-Iran peace talks and the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index print for April, due later in the day. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — was up slightly at 4.296%. The 2-year Treasury note yield, which more closely tracks short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, ticked lower to 3.791%. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield was little changed at 4.901%.
Most Asian markets gave up early gains to end lower Thursday, following reports that the U.S. had intercepted at least three Iranian oil tankers in Asian waters, stoking concerns that the Middle East conflict could drag on. Earlier in the session, Japan and South Korea stocks hit record highs, trailing overnight gains on Wall Street after President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran, boosting investor sentiment alongside strong corporate earnings. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended Thursday’s session 0.75% lower at 59,140.23, after briefly touching an all-time intraday high of 60,013.98 in early trade. South Korea’s Kospi reached an all-time intraday high of 6,538.72 in early trade and ended 0.90% higher at 6,475.81. The small-cap Kosdaq dropped 0.58% to 1,174.31. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded choppy, falling 0.57% to 8,793.40. Mainland China’s CSI 300 index slipped 0.28% to 4,786.33, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.92% as of its last hour of trade. India’s Nifty 50 fell 0.67% as of 3:40 a.m. ET. Oil prices rose Thursday as the U.S. and Iran maintained restrictions on the flow of trade through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures rose 92 cents to $102.83 a barrel by 8:52 a.m. ET. West Texas Intermediate futures advanced 84 cents to $93.80 per barrel. Both benchmarks closed more than $3 higher on Wednesday after larger-than-expected gasoline and distillate stock draws in the U.S. and over the lack of progress on peace talks. Gold fell on Thursday as elevated oil prices fuelled fears of inflation and prolonged high interest rates, while investors looked for clarity on the stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks. Spot gold was down 0.7% at $4,705.37 per ounce, as of 0432 GMT. U.S. gold futures for June delivery fell 0.7% to $4,720.90.