Nasdaq, S&P 500 futures crash up to 2.6%, Dow hints flat open as oil jumps to $118/bbl; tech stocks in focus today

US benchmark equity futures of the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indicate a gap-down opening on Friday, October 30, while Dow Jones hints at muted performance as Wall Street investors focus on global crude oil prices hitting $118 per barrel (bbl) and the selling pressure emerging from the Asian markets.

With major tech earnings like Intel and Amazon in focus of investors, the subdued guidance and results missing market expectations will further impact the benchmark indices, dragging them down to clock major intraday losses on Friday.

Dow Jones futures were trading flat at around 52,505 points ahead of the opening bell, indicating a potentially muted or lower opening on Friday’s Wall Street session amid significant weak cues from the global market.

The S&P 500 index futures were down 1.1%, trading around 7,667.50 points ahead of the US market open on Friday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index futures plummeted 2.6%, hovering around 28,798 points ahead of the opening bell on October 30.

Equity market investors were focused on the massive selling pressure emerging from investors in the Asian market as tech stocks tumbled over fears of AI spending not yielding returns, some of which was visible in Alphabet’s latest earnings.

Apart from the AI fears in the market, a heated US PCE inflation report released on October 29 continued to further dent the sentiment among traders, increasing the bets on an upcoming US Fed rate hike in the December policy meeting.

Data showed that despite the elevated oil prices and the increasing uncertainty in the market, the benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields remained steady at 4.9% levels on Friday as of 8:22 am (ET).

US stocks to watch today

The sentiment was further improved by the increase in guidance for deliveries for the upcoming period.

Crude oil hits $118 per barrel

Global crude oil prices rallied nearly 3% to touch an intraday high of $118 per barrel (bbl) on Friday’s market, as commodity market investors focused on the mixed signals of another potential attack on Iran by the United States after the upcoming midterm elections next week.

Latest reports from WSJ suggest that on Thursday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) head, Admiral Brad Cooper, briefed the President of the United States, Donald Trump, on further options for renewed attacks on Iran.

Fears of another potential supply chain disruption resulting from the impact of a fresh round of military attacks in West Asia have flared up crude oil prices during Friday’s market.

The benchmark Brent crude oil prices were trading 2.11% higher at $117.30 per bbl as of 6:14 pm (IST), in comparison to $114.88 per bbl at the previous market close, as per Investing.com data.

Energy prices have increased over 19% in the last one-month, and more than 35% in the last three months due to developments in West Asia. Any further escalation poses more risk of further rally in global crude oil prices.