U.S. stock futures fell Wednesday as President Donald Trump threatened more military action against Iran, with chip stocks adding to the pressure ahead of a closely watched inflation report.
Trump warned that Iran had "taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"
RONALDO SCHEMIDT / Getty Images
U.S. stock futures fell Wednesday as President Donald Trump threatened more military action against Iran, with chip stocks adding to the pressure ahead of a closely watched inflation report.
S&P 500 futures were off 0.91%, while Nasdaq $NDAQ 100 futures lost 1.32%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to an opening decline of around 449 points, equivalent to roughly 0.9%. Oil prices moved higher alongside the equity declines, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures rising about 1.4% to around $89.37 a barrel and Brent crude futures climbing about 1% to above $92 a barrel.
In a social media post on Wednesday morning, Trump warned that Iran had "taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!" It came a day after U.S. forces struck targets in Iran, an action U.S. Central Command described as retaliation for "yesterday's downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter" — a craft Trump had previously said was operating over the Strait of Hormuz.
The Consumer Price Index rose 4.2% over the 12 months ending in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday, the highest annual inflation rate since April 2023 and up from 3.8% in April.
Semiconductor names were among the biggest drags on futures. The iShares Semiconductor ETF slid 2.6% before the open, with Micron $MU Technology, AMD $AMD, and Broadcom $AVGO all trading in the red. Wednesday marked the fourth losing session out of the past five for the group, a stretch that included a punishing 10% single-day drop last Friday. Even so, the ETF is holding onto a gain of more than 86% on the year.
Friday's anticipated SpaceX IPO — expected to be the biggest public offering on record — may be pulling capital away from chip stocks, as some market participants suggested retail investors are rotating out of big semiconductor winners to free up cash for the debut. A competing explanation holds that the recent slide simply reflects normal selling pressure following an unusually sharp rally.
Tuesday's closing numbers showed the S&P 500 finishing down 0.26% and the Nasdaq Composite off 0.97%, though the Dow bucked that trend, closing higher by 86.10 points, a gain of 0.17%.
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