Wall Street points toward another tech sell-off while oil prices jump after U.S. attack on Iran
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The technology sell-off has carried over into Wednesday and oil prices rose two per cent after the U.S. military launched attacks against Iran.
Futures for the S&P 500 declined 1.1 per cent before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than one per cent. Futures for the technology-heavy Nasdaq slid 1.6 per cent. The S&P 500 is coming off of its first losing week in the past 10.
The latest U.S. attack on Iran followed the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that U.S. President Donald Trump blamed on Tehran and has dimmed hopes for progress toward a permanent end to the war, now in its fourth month.
With prospects for fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz in doubt, oil prices resumed their climb after volatile trading Tuesday.
Brent crude, the international standard, gained $1.67 to $93.12 per barrel. It was trading at approximately $70 a barrel before the war began in late February.
Benchmark U.S. crude was $1.89 higher at $90.09 per barrel.
“The situation remains highly volatile,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote Wednesday. “This once again demonstrates the difficulty Iran and the U.S. face in working toward a sustainable ceasefire that allows for the free flow of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Energy demand picks up around this time of year in the U.S., further squeezing limited supply.
There are more updates on U.S. inflation arriving this week. Inflation is expected to have reached 4.2% in Maym which would be third consecutive month of increases. The Labor Department releases those figures before the opening bell Wednesday.
Markets also have been wavering from spates of heavy selling of stocks in companies linked to the boom in artificial intelligence.
Chipmaker Micron fell 4.2% before the bell, while Super Micro Computer tumbled nearly 12%. AI bellwether Nvidia slid 2.5% overnight.
On the winning side was Cracker Barrel, which surprised investors Tuesday by posting strong third-quarter profit and revenue. Analysts had forecast a 48 cents-per-share loss, but the company logged a 29 cents-per-share profit. Cracker Barrel, which saw its shares jump 10.7% overnight, also raised its full-year guidance.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.5% lower, Germany’s DAX shed 1.3% and France’s CAC 40 was off 1%.
South Korea’s Kospi gave up 4.5%, to 7,730.82, after surging the day before. Samsung Electronics, which makes memory and logic chips and is the country’s most valuable company, sank 6.1%. Shares of chipmaker SK Hynix tumbled 7.5%.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.9% to 64,179.27, after data showed Japan’s producer price index, a measure for prices at the wholesale level, rose 6.3% in May from a year before. That’s the fastest pace in more than three years.
Shares of technology and telecommunications giant SoftBank Group, which has a strong AI focus, lost 8.3%. Chip equipment maker Advantest lost 4.2%, but Tokyo Electron advanced 3.2%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6% to 24,407.96, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.4% to 3,993.23. Official data released Wednesday showed that China’s producer prices rose to nearly a four-year high of 3.9% in May compared with a year earlier.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.6% higher to 8,653.30.
Taiwan’s Taiex was 3.3% lower, while India’s Sensex climbed 0.8%.
By Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott
