U.S. stock futures pointed higher Wednesday morning, led by semiconductor stocks, even as the United States launched fresh strikes against Iran overnight.
Nasdaq $NDAQ-100 futures were up 0.4% and S&P 500 futures climbed 0.1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed, up 5 points.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF advanced 1.2%. ASML $ASML stock rose 3% after the Dutch chipmaking equipment manufacturer reported record orders for its latest quarter. The company raised its sales guidance for the second time this year, signaling that demand for advanced chip production equipment remains strong. Shares of Intel $INTC and Lam Research $LRCX were also each up more than 3%.
Oil prices climbed after U.S. Central Command said overnight that U.S. forces had launched additional strikes against Iran. "The strikes are designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," U.S. Central Command said in a post on X $TWTR. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading at $80.21 a barrel, a gain of 1%. International Brent crude was up 1.1%, reaching $85.68 a barrel.
Wednesday's premarket gains followed a broad rally on Tuesday after a cooler-than-expected inflation reading boosted confidence that the Federal Reserve may not need to tighten monetary policy as aggressively as previously feared. June's U.S. consumer price index showed a 0.4% monthly drop, pulling the year-over-year inflation rate down to 3.5%. The consensus forecast had called for a 0.2% monthly decrease and a 3.8% annual rate, according to CNBC.
The June inflation data prompted traders to pull back expectations for a near-term rate increase. CME $CME's FedWatch Tool showed the odds of a July rate increase dropping sharply to 17% from 42% the day before. Traders still see a 63% chance that borrowing costs will be a quarter- or half-point higher by the time of the September meeting.
"While energy played a big role in the price deceleration, the easing was pretty broad and spread across a bunch of categories, a relief to investors," Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said in a note reported by CNBC. "However, the Fed and economy aren't in the clear — inflation is still elevated on an absolute basis, oil is back on an upswing, and AI is proving to be very inflationary at the moment."
Earnings season also continued Wednesday, with BlackRock $BLK reporting record assets for the second quarter.