
Markets Moving Past Tuesday Volatility?
U.S. stock futures are relatively flat ahead of the Wall Street open hinting at a tentative recovery after volatile trading in Tuesday’s session. The moves come after the major indices fell about 1% yesterday but finished the session far above its intra-day lows.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. would provide risk insurance to all maritime trade through the Persian Gulf, in an effort to get tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Tanker traffic through the Strait, the world’s most vital transit route for crude oil, has come to a halt on threats from Iran.
Investor focus will remain on headlines today along with earnings fallout from CrowdStrike (CRWD), which has rebounded from overnight lows. Traders will also be watching data, including the ADP Private Payrolls and Services numbers.
Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)
- Oil (/CL) – Oil futures are up 0.5% near $75 a barrel as U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran disrupted Middle East supplies, but the pace of gains slowed from past sessions after President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. Navy could escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has targeted tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flow. Traffic through the Strait remains effectively closed.
- Gold (/GC) – Gold prices are up 1% near $5,175, rebounding from a more than one-week low hit in the previous session, as the dollar took a breather from its recent rally and escalating tensions in the Middle East boosted safe-haven demand for the yellow metal.
- Bitcoin (/BTC) – The Crypto Future is up over 4% near 71,400 in premarket trading.
- VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was up 10% on Tuesday and settled at 23.57 as stocks sold off. The VIX is falling 2% this morning as stocks are modestly positive but it remains above the 23 level.
- U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is down 0.2% premarket at 98.8.
Biggest Premarket Movers (as of 7 AM ET - Mark % Change)
- Moderna (MRNA): +9.41%
- Ross Stores (ROST): +6.30%
- Coinbase (COIN): +5.37%
- Robinhood (HOOD): +3.85%
- SanDisk (SNDK): +3.29%
- Occidental Petroleum (OXY): -1.73%
- First Solar (FSLR): -1.03%
- PayPal (PYPL): -0.84%
- Qualcomm (QCOM): -0.82%
- Exxon Mobil (XOM): -0.68%
Economic Data
- 7:00 AM ET: MBA Mortgage Applications
- 8:15 AM ET: ADP Employment Report
- 9:45 AM ET: PMI Composite (Final)
- 10:00 AM ET: ISM Services Index
- 10:30 AM ET: Oil Inventories
- 2:00 PM ET: Beige Book
Notable Earnings
- Premarket: ANF, BBWI, BF/B, DY, GENI, WIX
- Postmarket: AEO, AVGO, CHPT, CBRL, GO, OKTA, RGTI, STUB, VEEV
- Premarket Tomorrow: BILI, BJ, BURL, CNQ, CIEN, JD, KR, TTC, VSCO
- Postmarket Tomorrow: COO, COST, GAP, GPRO, GWRE, MRVL, PBR
Upgrades/Downgrades
- BofA reinstates Tesla (TSLA) with a Buy rating, up from Neutral prior
- Bernstein upgrades Target (TGT) to Market Perform from Underperform
- Telsey Advisory upgrades Ross Stores (ROST) to Outperform from Market Perform
- GLJ Research downgrades First Solar (FSLR) to Hold from Buy
- Piper Sandler downgrades GitLab (GTLB) to Neutral from Overweight
- Barclays downgrades LegalZoom (LZ) to Underweight from Equal Weight

