U.S. Stock Futures Rise as Bessent Attributes September Inflation to Energy Shock

U.S. stock futures were higher on Monday, as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices rose, following Friday’s lower close. Energy Secretary Chris Wright defended President Donald Trump on Sunday amid criticism of rising energy costs, saying Trump wants to bring peace and drive energy prices down. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said September’s hotter inflation reading reflects an "energy shock" and argued prices will ease once the U.S.

gets "to the other side of the Iran conflict." Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of driving the U.S. into another war, while Reuters reported Vortexa data showing Iran’s seaborne crude exports fell from an average of 230,000 barrels per day to zero in September and stayed there as of Oct. 5. Investors are preparing for a massive week of third-quarter earnings, with Magnificent 7 members Meta Platforms Inc.

(NASDAQ: META ) and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA ) taking center stage on Wednesday. Other major reports due this week include Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX ), General Motors Co.

(NYSE: GM ), Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX ), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM ), and Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG ).

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 5.07%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.72% at the last check. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 14.9% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates after its October meeting. — Index Performance (+/-) Dow Jones 0.10% S&P 500 0.53% Nasdaq 100 1.08% Russell 2000 0.49% The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY ) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in premarket trading on Monday. The SPY was up 0.53% at $767.33, while the QQQ advanced 1.09% to $717.53.

Read Also: Stock Market: Will S&P 500 Open Up or Down Today? Stocks In Focus Disc Medicine Disc Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: IRON ) was 17.89% higher in premarket trading on Monday after the company said it will host a webcast on Monday, Oct. 19, to discuss topline results from the APOLLO Phase 3 trial of bitopertin in erythropoietic protoporphyria.

’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that IRON maintains a negative price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor momentum score. Steel Dynamics Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD ) was 0.06% higher as its third-quarter 2026 results are due after the closing bell. Analysts expect $5.41 in EPS on revenue of $6.44 billion.

’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that STLD maintains a positive price trend in the short and long terms but a negative trend in the medium term, with a strong quality score. Elbit Systems Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT ) was 0.95% lower despite announcing that it was awarded a contract valued at approximately $235 million to supply EXTRA-MR (Medium Range) rockets and Precise & Universal Launching System rocket artillery systems to a European customer. ’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that ESLT maintains a negative price trend in the medium term but a positive trend in the short and long terms, with a strong growth score.

Red Cat Holdings Red Cat Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: RCAT ) was 5.30% higher as it announced a voluntary public purchase offer to acquire all outstanding shares of the Austrian engine manufacturer, Steyr Motors. ’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that RCAT maintains a negative price trend in the short, medium, and long terms. OpenWorld OpenWorld Inc.

(NASDAQ: OPNW ) surged 20.68% in premarket trading on Monday as as it entered into a non-binding term sheet with Meridian for a tokenized financing program of up to $1 billion to support a distributed AI computing network utilizing Tesla Powerwall batteries and solar energy, and recently secured majority stockholder approval for share authorization changes. ’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that OPNW maintains a negative price trend in the short, medium, and long terms. Read Also: EXCLUSIVE: Forget China — Samsung Is The Bigger Threat To Micron, SanDisk Investors, Says Nicholas Mugalli Cues From Last Session U.S.

stocks closed lower on Friday, with the Dow down over 100 points. Energy, utilities and consumer staples led, while information technology, communication services and consumer discretionary lagged. Index Performance (+/-) Value Dow Jones -0.34% 52,002.41 S&P 500 -1.09% 7,659.44 Nasdaq Composite -2.14% 26,140.03 Russell 2000 -1.66% 2,721.37 Insights From Analysts Mohamed El-Erian said the past week delivered an unusual mix in markets, with government bond yields falling despite "hotter-than-expected CPI, PPI, and import price inflation," alongside a drop to under 20% in the market’s implied probability of an October rate hike.

He wrote that equities showed "volatility and dispersion," with tech selling off and the NASDAQ down 4.5% for the week while the S&P 500 fell 2% and the Dow ended the week positive. El-Erian highlighted CoreWeave as a focal point, noting its credit spread spiked to 1,200 basis points and sparked debate on whether it is "the canary in the tech-bubble coal mine" or a "classic market overshoot." He also cautioned that the "rotation trade" away from tech may not be straightforward, describing a "(1-x) qualification" in which the non-tech sector could be positively correlated with tech’s health.

Upcoming Economic Data Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on this week: On Monday, October’s NAHB housing market index data will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET. On Tuesday, September’s housing starts data will be released by 8:30 a.m., and September’s pending home sales index data will be out by 10:00 a.m. ET.

On Wednesday, there are no major economic events scheduled. On Thursday, initial jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 17 will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.

September’s leading indicators data will be out by 10:00 a.m., and October’s Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey will be released by 11:00 a.m. ET. On Friday, October’s S&P flash U.S. manufacturing and services PMI data will be released by 9:45 a.m.

ET. October’s final University of Michigan consumer survey data will be out by 10:00 a.m. ET. Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets Crude Oil WTI futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 2.12% to hover around $96.92 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.17% to hover around $4,177.42 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.15% higher at the 101.9639 level. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 1.40 lower at $82,826.51 per coin.

Asian markets were mixed on Monday, as Australia’s ASX 200, South Korea’s Kospi, and China’s CSI 300 indices rose. India’s Nifty 50 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 indices fell. European markets were lower in early trading. Read Also: Michael Burry Warns Stocks Could Face 15-20 Years of Poor Real Returns: ‘Speculation Has Overrun Investing’ Photo courtesy: Shutterstock