U.S. stock index futures were mixed on Thursday as a surge in oil prices heightened inflation concerns and tempered enthusiasm around generally strong technology results.
Brent crude futures rose 2.3% on the day amid fears of a protracted disruption in oil markets, after an Axios report said President Donald Trump was slated to receive a briefing from the leader of the U.S. Central Command on new plans for potential military action against Iran. That report undercut recent optimism that diplomatic efforts to resolve the U.S.-Iran war would remain on track despite setbacks.
"The oil market has moved from over-optimism to the reality of the supply disruption. The breakdown of talks between the U.S. and Iran... has the market losing hope for any quick resumption in oil flows," said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Economics.
By 5:07 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 193 points, or 0.39%, S&P 500 E-minis were flat, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 49 points, or 0.18%.
Technology earnings, on balance, were strong. Nonetheless, some notable premarket moves reflected investor reaction to capital spending announcements and division within the sector. Shares of Meta Platforms and Microsoft fell 8% and 1.9%, respectively, in the premarket session a day after they laid out their capital spending plans. Conversely, Alphabet rose 6.1% following a record quarter for its cloud unit, and Amazon gained 1.9% after surpassing cloud sales expectations.
Market participants were also parsing remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered on Wednesday. The central bank voted to keep interest rates unchanged, but three officials signaled that inflation remained too high to warrant a bias toward cutting rates.
Investor sentiment was expected to be further shaped by imminent economic releases. The upcoming first-quarter gross domestic product report and the Personal Consumption Expenditures data were scheduled for Thursday, and market participants were set to use those readings to reassess growth and inflation trajectories.
For now, the market balance appeared fragile: bullish momentum from better-than-expected technology results was being offset by renewed inflation fears tied to energy prices and uncertainty over geopolitical developments relating to Iran. Traders and strategists were watching how these cross-currents would influence risk appetite heading into the economic data flow.