March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures ticked up on Tuesday, as investors hoped for a quicker resolution to the Middle East conflict that has led to a spike in energy prices and stoked inflation concerns, following President Donald Trump's comments on the war.
Crude and natural gas prices eased from the worrying $120 per barrel mark after Trump said on Monday that the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran could be nearing an end, ahead of his initial estimate of a four-to-five-week timeline.
However,
the enthusiasm came with an element of caution as Iran said it would continue its oil blockade through the region, to which Trump promised stronger military retaliation. Energy producers in the Middle East are yet to resume production full-scale and shipping costs are likely to be elevated for a while.
Still, lower energy prices on Tuesday came as a relief to beaten-down travel stocks. Airlines American and Delta gained over 1% each in premarket trading, while cruise companies Carnival and Royal Caribbean were marginally higher.
Energy companies such as Occidental lost 2.5%, while ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil were marginally lower.
Surging crude prices since the start of the conflict had worried investors that the U.S. economy could face stagflation and complicate the work of the Federal Reserve, as data also suggested the labor market was weakening.
Traders have priced in a potential 25 basis point rate cut around September, according to LSEG-compiled data.
At 05:14 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 211 points, or 0.44%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 29.75 points, or 0.44%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 134.25 points, or 0.54%.
Global markets, including equities in Asia and Europe, also rallied and Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE's volatility index, dropped 2.19 points to 23.31.
Two inflation reports are due later this week and are unlikely to reflect the recent surge in energy and shipping costs, but will be scrutinized for how inflation fared before the Middle East conflict.
Overall losses on Wall Street have been contained, relative to peers, since the start of the war as technology stocks rebounded, making them the best performing sector on the S&P 500 this month with a 1.4% gain.
On Tuesday, chip companies such as Nvidia added 0.4%, while SanDisk and Western Digital rose over 2.3% each.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Focus will shift to results from enterprise software maker Oracle, due after markets close, and traders will scrutinize any signs of debt-fueled AI-spending. Shares were up 2%.
Reflecting a broad risk-on mood, crypto stocks such as Strategy added 3% and Coinbase climbed 3%, tracking a 2.7% rise in bitcoin.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
