Futures point higher as Wall Street eyes Big Tech earnings and oil retreats from $90
US stock futures pointed higher on Monday as attention turned to a bumper week of Big Tech earnings, even with the US-Iran conflict grinding into its tenth day.
Dow futures edged up 0.2%, S&P 500 contracts added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq-100 popped 0.7%, a welcome bounce after a bruising week for semiconductor stocks.
The AI trade is hunting for its next catalyst, and it may well arrive this week with results due from Alphabet, Tesla, Intel and IBM.
Wall Street has raised the bar for all four, with investors wanting proof that the vast sums being poured into AI infrastructure are actually starting to generate revenue.
The mood was helped by oil pulling back from its highs.
Brent briefly crossed $91 a barrel overnight before retreating to around $86.70, down 1.6%, after Iran signalled that diplomatic channels with Washington remain open via mediators in Pakistan and Qatar.
That said, the conflict itself shows little sign of easing, with US airstrikes continuing and Iranian retaliation killing at least three American service members over the weekend.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz hit a three-week low on Friday, and US gasoline prices crossed $4 a gallon again, an unwelcome development three months out from the midterms.
