Wall Street was mixed in premarket trading Wednesday as oil prices steadied and the technology sector appeared ready to bounce back from widespread losses to start the week.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.2%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.3%. Futures for the technology-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.7%.
Intel rose 3.1% after a 6.8% decline on Tuesday, while Micron clawed back all of its 3.6% loss from a day earlier, jumping more
than 5% before markets opened. The artificial intelligence boom has sent both chipmakers soaring this year, with Intel shares more than tripling and Micron shares more than doubling.
Qualcomm also rebounded Wednesday, gaining 4% after a steep 11.5% drop a day earlier.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with President Xi Jinping. Aside from discussions about Iran, the two leaders are expected to discuss trade and artificial intelligence.
Prominent U.S. executives from Big Tech and other industries will join Trump on his trip to China, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, according to a White House official.
On Wedneday, oil prices flipped between small gains as losses as uncertainty about a potential diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and the U.S. remained uncertain.
“Corporate earnings and AI momentum are acting as the market’s primary shock absorbers, but the road is getting significantly rougher,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
“With oil prices becoming entrenched at elevated levels and a diplomatic breakthrough between the U.S. and Iran remaining elusive, the easy bullish narrative is becoming much harder to maintain.”
The price for a barrel of Brent crude inched down 46 cents to $101.72. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 17 cents to $107.60 a barrel. Prices were around $79 before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
The war has essentially shut the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, keeping them stuck in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide.
The resulting leap for crude oil prices, with Brent up from roughly $70 per barrel before the war, caused inflation in the United States to worsen last month by more than economists expected, the government reported Tuesday. In another discouraging signal, price increases accelerated by more in April than economists expected even after excluding gasoline and food costs.
The Fed has paused any interest rate cuts so far this year, as it waits to see how high inflation will go because of the war with Iran and Trump's tariffs. That’s because lower rates can worsen inflation even while boosting the broader economy.
Traders still largely expect the Fed to keep its main interest rate steady this year, but they’re now betting on a better than 1-in-3 chance that it could hike rates by December, according to CME Group. Higher rates tend to push down on stock prices, while also slowing the economy.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 rose 0.4%, while the German DAX added 0.6%. Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed.
In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.8% to finish at 63,272.11.
South Korea's Kospi index surged 2.6% to 7,844.01, recouping recent losses. The Kospi sank 2.3% earlier in the week from an all-time high after a senior figure in the administration suggested the government may redistribute windfall AI profits from companies to citizens. Analysts said some investors were snatching the shares that got sold as the actual impact of the remarks was still unclear.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5% to 8,630.40. The Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 26,388.44, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7% to 4,242.57.
