Market Analysis

The major U.S. Index futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Thursday, with stocks likely to move back to the upside after moving sharply lower over the course of the previous session.

Bargain hunting may contribute to early strength on Wall Street following the weakness seen during yesterday’s session, which dragged the Nasdaq and S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in a month.

Semiconductor stocks may help lead the rebound, as shares of Intel (INTC) surge by 4.6 percent in pre-market trading after Bank of America upgraded its rating on the chipmaker’s stock to Buy from Underperform.

However, the futures gave back some ground as the price of crude oil has surged in reaction to President Donald Trump’s latest threats against Iran.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. will be hitting Iran “very hard tonight” and claimed he plans to assume total control of their oil and gas markets “at some point in the not too distant future.”

Concerns about inflation may also limit the strength on Wall Street after the Labor Department released a report showing producer prices increased by more than expected in the month of May.

Stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session on Wednesday but came under considerable selling pressure over the course of the trading day. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Dow tumbled 953.33 points or 1.9 percent to 49,918.78, the Nasdaq plunged 509.32 points or 2 percent to 25,169.50 and the S&P 500 slumped 119.66 points or 1.6 percent to 7,266.99.

The weakness that emerged On Wall Street came as President Donald Trump ramped up his threats against Iran following a recent exchange of attacks.

"We hit them hard yesterday, and we're going to hit them hard again today," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We're going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard."

Trump's latest threats came after U.S. Central Command said forces completed "self-defense strikes" against Iran on Tuesday at the president's direction in response to the downing of a U.S. helicopter.

CENTCOM said forces struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions from U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets.

In retaliation, Iran reportedly attacked U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan and vowed it would leave no attack or threat unanswered.

Trump said in a subsequent post on Truth Social this morning that Iran has "taken too long to negotiate a deal" and will now have to "pay the price!"

Concerns about a re-escalation of the Middle East conflict contributed to a surge by the price of crude oil, as traders shrugged off Trump's claims that the U.S. has secretly helped move more than 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

On the inflation front, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of May.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.5 percent in May after climbing by 0.6 percent in April. The price growth matched expectations.

The annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 4.2 percent in May from 3.8 percent in April, which was also in line with estimates.

The report also said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, crept up by 0.2 percent in May after rising by 0.4 percent in April. Economists had expected core prices to increase by 0.3 percent.

The annual rate of core consumer price growth inched up to 2.9 percent in May from 2.8 percent in April, which matched expectations.

Airline stocks moved sharply lower amid the surge by the price of crude oil, resulting in a 5.4 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Substantial weakness was also visible among gold stocks, which moved lower along with the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 5 percent.

Computer hardware, semiconductor and housing stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, while energy stocks bucked the downtrend.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are climbing $0.61 to $90.64 a barrel after surging $1.83 to $90.03 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after plunging $153.10 to $4,133.30 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are tumbling $50.50 to $4,082.80 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 160.54 yen versus the 160.53 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1536 compared to yesterday’s $1.1535.

Asia

Asian shares ended mixed on Thursday after steep losses on Wall Street overnight. Middle East tensions and rate hike expectations kept investors on edge, but overall losses were limited after the U.S. military said that it had “completed” its latest round of airstrikes targeting Iran.

The dollar held steady near a two-month high in Asian trading after the U.S. launched fresh strikes on Iran.

Gold jumped 0.8 percent to $4,104 an ounce, rebounding from a six-month low as investors sought safe-haven assets amid escalating U.S.-Iran tensions.

Brent crude futures fell below $93 a barrel, reversing gains from earlier in the session on hopes that U.S.-Iran peace negotiations could resume.

After launching a wave of new strikes on multiple targets in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the Iranians were delaying a deal and that there would be more attacks if no peace deal is secured.

Iran has vowed to retaliate and accused the U.S. of “war crimes,” citing damage to civilian infrastructure.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early today they had launched counterattacks on 18 U.S.-military targets at airbases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2 percent to 3,987.01 as shares of tech companies including Alibaba and JD.com tumbled on concerns about regulatory scrutiny. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.77 percent to 24,249.29.

Japanese markets fluctuated before ending on a flat note as a government survey showed business sentiment among major Japanese companies worsened during the April-June period.

While the Nikkei 225 Index finished marginally higher at 64,217.27, the broader Topix Index settled 0.5 percent lower at 3,830.35.

Tech stocks ended mixed, with SoftBank Group and Fujikura both falling over 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron rallied 2.5 percent.

Seoul stocks ended modestly higher after a choppy session. The Kospi Index rose 0.4 percent to 7,763.95 as AI woes eased and government data showed South Korea's chip exports more than tripled from a year earlier in the first 10 days of June to US$11 billion.

Among the top gainers, SK Hynix jumped 2.6 percent and SK Square soared 3.8 percent.

Australian markets ended slightly lower as property tax fears hammered bank stocks, offsetting gains in the mining sector.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 8,633.20 while the broader All Ordinaries Index fell 0.2 percent to close at 8,836.70.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index closed down 0.4 percent at 13,202.16, snapping a two-day winning streak.

Europe

European stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Thursday as investors keep a close eye on escalating Middle East tensions and digest the European Central Bank's (ECB) rate decision.

To address rising inflationary pressures, the ECB announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points.

In economic news, a survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed that the U.K. house price balance was unchanged from the previous month at -35 percent in May, but some measures showed signs of stabilization in the property market.

While the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.6 percent.

Tech stocks traded higher, with Infineon rising 2 percent, ASM International surging 4.2 percent and BE Semiconductor climbing more than 5 percent after Oracle announced record Q4 and FY26 results.

UniCredit gained about 1 percent, a day after Commerzbank said that no institutional investors have tendered shares into the Italian bank's takeover offer.

Hugo Boss shares soared 7.7 percent after the U.K.'s Frasers Group launched a voluntary public takeover offer for the German fashion brand.

British health and safety device maker Halma plummeted 15 percent after issuing disappointing guidance for the year ahead.

Self-storage operator Safestore Holdings fell more than 2 percent after first-half operating profit declined 52.8 percent.

Budget carrier Wizz Air Holdings jumped 5.3 percent after reporting annual operating profit well above market expectations.

Ryanair Holdings fell nearly 1 percent as the Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into the company over charges it imposed on parents to sit next to their child on flights.

U.S. Economic News

The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended June 6th.

The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 229,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 225,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 219,000.

With the unexpected climb, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 230,000 in the week ended February 7th.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also rose to 219,000, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 214,750

Partly reflecting a continued spike in energy prices, the Labor Department also released a report showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in the month of May.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand shot up by 1.1 percent in May, matching a downwardly revised jump in April.

Economists had expected producer prices to climb by 0.7 percent compared to the 1.4 percent surge originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 6.5 percent in May from 5.7 percent in April, reaching the fastest rate of growth since November 2022.

At 1 pm ET, the Treasury Department is scheduled to announce the results of this month’s auction of $22 billion worth of thirty-year bonds.