U.S. stock futures slipped early Monday as the latest developments in the Middle East sent oil prices higher, sparking further worries about instability in the region.
Iranian media reported that ships following reports of an Iranian attack on a U.S. warship and as Iranian media was reporting that a ship was turned back from the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Navy said it blocked “American-Zionist” warships from entering the zone, according to state TV reports cited by Reuters.
A separate dispatch from the Fars new agency said two misses hit a U.S. warship near Jask island after it ignored warnings, though neither report was independently confirmed.
However, a senior U.S. official quoted by Axios denied the U.S. ship had been hit.
S&P 500 futures fell 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.34%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 327 points points, or 0.65%.
Those moves came as oil prices jumped across the board. U.S. light, sweet crude rose 4.8% to $106.69 while international benchmark Brent crude was up 4.7% to $113.25. Energy prices came off earlier highs following reports that disputed the Iranian accounts.
In a Sunday Truth Social post, President Donald Trump announced “Project Freedom,” which he said entails the U.S. helping to “free” cargo ships of nations that aren’t involved in the Middle East conflict and that have been stranded by the Strait of Hormuz closure. The initiative is slated to start Monday, Trump wrote.
“I have told my Representatives to inform them that we will use best efforts to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait,” he said in his post. “In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation, and everything else.” The president’s Truth Social post had no details on how such an effort would unfold.
Trump’s announcement came after Iran said on Sunday that it had received a U.S. response to its latest offer for peace talks.
Previously, on Friday, Iran reportedly sent an updated peace proposal through Pakistani mediators, boosting investors’ optimism that a settlement with the U.S. could occur. However, Trump later said on Friday that he was not satisfied with Tehran’s offer, and that the country was only making a deal “because they have no military left.”
Investors’ hopefulness over the situation in the Middle East and a strong first-quarter earnings season have driven stocks higher to new records in recent days, with Bank of America strategist Nigel Tupper seeing reason to remain bullish going forward.
“The strong global earnings cycle and a few persistent investment themes remain supportive of global equity market returns,” Tupper wrote in a Friday note to clients.
Chris Senyek, chief investment strategist at Wolfe Research, believes that strong earnings from the “Magnificent Seven” tech titans will result in artificial intelligence remaining the most dominant market theme.
“With mega cap tech earnings coming in solid, adding more fuel to the AI theme, we believe that investors are likely to continue to chase the perceived tech winners in semis and memory, among others,” he wrote.
Major premarket movers include Blackberry, which added 12.4%, while news of GameStop‘s takeover bid for eBay pushed the pair as much as 5% and 10.5% higher, respectively.
On Friday, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose to new all-time intraday and closing highs. The broad market index rose 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.89%. The Dow bucked the trend, however, slipping 152.87 points, or 0.31%.
The week’s most dominant economic news release will be the April jobs report, due out on Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Dow Jones consensus estimates that the U.S. economy is expected to have added just 53,000 jobs in April, far below the prior blowout reading of 178,000, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.3%.
Traders will also look ahead to reports from Loews, Norwegian Cruise Line and Tyson Foods before Monday’s opening bell.
—CNBC’s Garrett Downs contributed reporting.
European stocks see-saw as transatlantic trade tensions hit the spotlight
European stock markets swung back and forth on Monday, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to increase tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union, rattling the continent’s auto sector.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 had slipped 0.15% by 10:30 a.m. in London, reversing its early morning gains. In Frankfurt, the DAX advanced 0.3%, while in Paris the CAC 40 fell 0.5%, as Milan’s FTSE MIB also slipped into the red.
In London, the FTSE 100 is closed for the U.K. early spring bank holiday.
Nokia surged 7% in morning trade, after Inseego said Thursday it would acquire the Finnish telco mainstay’s fixed wireless access business. Shares in Nokia have rallied more than 100% since the start of the year.
On the flipside, utilities and autos saw the biggest losses in morning trade, down 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively.
Auto parts maker Continental tumbled to the bottom the European index, shedding 4.1%, as investors weighed Trump’s latest tariff plans on the sector. The European Commission said it was keeping its options in terms of its response.
— Hugh Leask
South Korean stocks rallied amid broader gains in other Asian markets
South Korean stocks rose Monday to hit a fresh record, following their strongest monthly gain in 28 years, as investors weighed the latest development around the Middle East conflict.
The U.S. would attempt to “free” stranded ships affected by the Strait of Hormuz closure since the start of the Iran war, U.S. President Trump said in his Truth Social post Sunday.
Asia-Pacific indexes mostly rose. The Kospi index ended Monday’s session 5.12% higher at 6,936.99. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both rose to record intraday highs, gaining 5.44% and 12.52% respectively, buoyed by positive sentiment following U.S. tech earnings.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was the main laggard in Monday’s trade, declining 0.37% to 8,697.10.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 1.26% in its last hour of afternoon trade, while India’s Nifty 50 advanced 0.44%.
Markets in Japan and China were closed for a public holiday.
Oil prices were volatile as investors continued to assess President Trump’s “Project Freedom” plan. West Texas Intermediate futures for June delivery rose 0.98% to $102.92 per barrel in the early hours of Monday ET. International benchmark Brent crude futures for July were up 1.07% to $109.31 per barrel.
— Justina Lee
South Korean stocks hit fresh record amid mixed Asia trading as investors assess Trump’s “Project Freedom” plan
South Korean stocks rose Monday to hit a fresh record, following their strongest monthly gain in April, as investors weighed tensions between Iran and the U.S. and a U.S. plan to reopen shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Kospi index rose 4.26%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 1.8%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.28%.
Markets in Japan and China are closed for a public holiday.
Oil prices fell following the announcement of President Donald Trump’s “Project Freedom” plan to attempt to “free” stranded ships affected by the Strait of Hormuz closure since the start of the Iran war.
West Texas Intermediate futures for July delivery fell 0.26% to $101.68 per barrel as of 10:08 p.m. ET. International benchmark Brent crude futures was 0.13% lower at $108.03 per barrel.
— Justina Lee
Major stocks reporting earnings this week
This week, 121 companies in the S&P 500 — or nearly a quarter of the index — are on the docket to report their latest earnings.
Here are some of the companies posting earnings this week:
- Monday: Palantir Technologies, Paramount Skydance, Diamondback Energy, Pinterest, Norwegian Cruise Line, Tyson Foods
- Tuesday: Pfizer, DuPont, PayPal, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Marathon Petroleum, Life Time Group, Duke Energy, Shopify, Advanced Micro Devices, Super Micro, Electronic Arts
- Wednesday: Walt Disney Co., CVS Health, Kraft Heinz, Marriott, Uber Technologies, Arm Holdings, Warner Bros. Discovery, DoorDash, Snap, Whirlpool
- Thursday: McDonald’s, Shake Shack, Shell, Datadog, TripAdvisor, Papa John’s, Expedia, Gilead Sciences, Wynn Resorts, Airbnb, Affirm Holdings, Block, Lyft, Coinbase, Sony
- Friday: Toyota Motors, Nintendo, AMC Networks, Wendy’s
— Lisa Kailai Han and Robert Hum
This week’s economic data releases
Take a look at some of the economic data releases on the docket for this week:
Monday May 4
- 10:00 a.m. Durable Orders final (March)
- 10:00 a.m. Factory Orders (March)
Tuesday May 5
- 9:45 a.m. S&P Global PMI Services final (April)
- 10:00 a.m. ISM Services PMI (April)
- 10:00 a.m. JOLTS Job Openings (March)
- 10:00 a.m. New Home Sales (March)
Wednesday May 6
- 8:15 a.m. ADP Employment Survey (April)
Thursday May 7
- 8:30 a.m. Initial Claims (05/02)
- 8:30 a.m. Unit Labor Costs preliminary (Q1)
- 8:30 a.m. Productivity preliminary (Q1)
- 10:00 a.m. Construction Spending (March)
- 3:00 p.m. Consumer Credit (March)
Friday May 8
- 8:30 a.m. Hourly Earnings preliminary (April)
- 8:30 a.m. Average Workweek preliminary (April)
- 8:30 a.m. Manufacturing Payrolls (April)
- 8:30 a.m. Nonfarm Payrolls (April)
- 8:30 a.m. Private Nonfarm Payrolls (April)
- 8:30 a.m. Unemployment Rate (April)
- 10:00 a.m. Michigan Sentiment preliminary (May)
- 10:00 a.m. Wholesale Inventories (March)
— Sarah Min and Lisa Kailai Han
Stock futures open higher
Stock futures were trading higher on Sunday evening.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both added 0.2% shortly after 6 p.m. ET. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 102 points, or 0.2%.
— Lisa Kailai Han
