US stock futures rose early on Wednesday as investors watched for updates on negotiations between the US and Iran amid the ongoing AI boom.
Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) traded at the flat line, while those on the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) traded up 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) climbed 0.6%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) both rose to record highs. Optimism that the US and Iran could reach a lasting peace agreement somewhat soon, as well as confidence in the chip trade, lifted markets.
A conclusive end to the US-Iran war, however, remains murky, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioning that any deal would likely take a few days to formalize. In the meantime, the Strait of Hormuz remains mostly shut to commercial traffic.
Nevertheless, crude oil prices continued to drift lower, with Brent (BZ=F) falling to $94 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) trading at $90 per barrel.
Earnings season continues to wrap up this week, with Marvell Technology (MRVL), Salesforce (CRM), Snowflake (SNOW), and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) set to report their results on Wednesday.
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Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday morning as traders looked for momentum in US-Iran negotiations, with hopes spurred by reports from Iranian state media that such a deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, fell 4.2% to trade below $93 per barrel, while those on US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) stumbled by a steeper 5.7% to trade below $89.
Oil prices dropped precipitously at around 9 a.m. ET after Iranian state media, which is understood to be tightly controlled by the regime, reported that a draft memorandum between the US and Iran said Iran would restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within 30 days, while the US would withdraw its military from the area and lift its naval blockade.
Prices had ticked up on Monday and Tuesday after the US said it launched a new round of airstrikes in southern Iran, the US military’s first major action against the Islamic Republic since the two nations initially agreed to a ceasefire.
Without further escalation — the US called the strikes “defensive” — traders have swung their focus back to President Trump’s announcement over the weekend that Washington and Tehran are close to agreeing on terms to restart peace negotiations, with a full ceasefire on all fronts and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as preliminary conditions.
“The markets are just waiting for something tangible now when it comes to a deal between the US and Iran,” Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda wrote in a client note.
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Lululemon (LULU) stock popped 3% on Wednesday morning after the company and its founder, Chip Wilson, reached an agreement to settle a long-running dispute over the company’s board leadership.
The deal removes a potential obstacle ahead of the company’s shareholder meeting in June. One of the points of contention in the proxy battle between Wilson and the company’s board was the selection of Nike (NKE) veteran Heidi O’Neill to take the CEO helm later this year.
“Lululemon now has a clear path forward for our incoming CEO, Heidi O’Neill, and our leadership team, as we continue to advance our strategies to foster strong brand health, reaccelerate growth, and deliver enhanced value for our shareholders,” Lululemon’s executive chair Marti Morfitt said on Wednesday morning.
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SK Hynix (000660.KS) shares jumped more than 12% on Wednesday, pushing the memory chip maker to a $1 trillion valuation in Asia just hours after peer Micron Technology (MU) crossed the same milestone on Tuesday.
Wall Street had anticipated SK Hynix would join the club as the last of the industry’s “big three” to reach the valuation after Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) first crossed the mark earlier this month .
May has become a month of trillion-dollar milestones for the memory chip giants, as soaring demand has tightened supply and created a key bottleneck in the AI trade.
SK Hynix, Micron, and Samsung have become major beneficiaries of the AI boom as demand for High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips has surged alongside AI training and inference workloads. Their production is allocated through 2026.
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Bloomberg reports:
Oil dropped on optimism that the US and Iran will reach a peace deal despite fresh hostilities and uncertainty over the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Brent (BZ=F) fell to near $98 a barrel after rising almost 4% on Tuesday, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was around $92. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cautioned that any peace pact would likely take a few days to finalize. Meanwhile, US forces hit targets near the strait, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired at multiple US aircraft after they entered Iranian airspace.
The strait, the key waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed during peacetime, remains essentially shut, subject to blockades by the US and Iran. However, at least two non-Iranian supertankers exited the chokepoint on Tuesday, the first time in a week that 4 million barrels of unsanctioned crude have been seen crossing.
In the US, President Donald Trump will convene his Cabinet at the White House Wednesday, moving from the originally planned location at the presidential retreat Camp David due to weather. This comes as key sticking points remain in the talks with Iran — including Tehran’s $24 billion in frozen assets and its reluctance to allow free passage through the strait.
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