U.S. Stock Futures Fall as Asian Sell-Off and Middle East Tensions Weigh

U.S. stock futures slipped Thursday, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 lower after the indexes closed higher Wednesday. Reuters reported that the U.S. State Department had ordered some diplomats and family members to leave its missions in Saudi Arabia following Houthi attacks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was willing to resume diplomacy with President Donald Trump’s administration. He added that Iran would reconsider negotiations if Washington showed a genuine commitment to building trust and reaching a fair agreement. “But if US chooses war over diplomacy, it’ll certainly result in an even greater strategic failure,” he wrote. Asian markets also retreated Thursday.

Reports that the U.S. and Israel had drawn up plans for potential renewed strikes on Iran after the November midterm elections added to geopolitical uncertainty. At the latest check, the 10-year Treasury bond yield was 5.08%, while the 2-year yield was 4.77%. CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed an 87.3% probability that markets expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged after its October meeting.

Thursday’s heavy earnings slate also The Dow Jones fell -0.72%, the S&P 500 declined -1.10%, the Nasdaq 100 dropped -1.90% and the Russell 2000 lost -1.02%. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), which tracks the S&P 500, was down 0.99% at $765.43 in premarket trading on Thursday. The Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq 100, fell 1.75% to $712.50. Meta Platforms Inc.

(NASDAQ: META) traded 1.14% lower before the market opened on Thursday, despite reporting third-quarter 2026 earnings above estimates after Wednesday's close. Earnings were $7.40 per share on revenue of $64.60 billion, compared with estimates of $5.74 per share and $63.37 billion. Edge Stock Rankings show Meta with a positive price trend across the short, medium and long terms, alongside a strong growth score. Tesla Inc.

(NASDAQ: TSLA) fell 5.36% in premarket trading despite reporting third-quarter 2026 earnings above estimates. The company reported earnings of $0.48 per share and revenue of $28.05 billion after Wednesday’s market close, compared with estimates of $0.43 per share and $27.88 billion. Its Edge Stock Rankings show TSLA with positive short- and medium-term price trends but a negative long-term trend, alongside a poor value score. Lam Research Corp.

(NASDAQ: LRCX) fell 8.94% in premarket trading Thursday after reporting first-quarter 2027 earnings of $2.20 per share and revenue of $8.22 billion following Wednesday’s market close. Estimates were $2.18 per share and $8.15 billion. CFO Doug Bettinger said guidance “would have been a bit higher” without near-term supply constraints. Edge Stock Rankings show LRCX with negative short- and medium-term price trends, a positive long-term trend and a strong quality score.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was down 5.82% in premarket trading Thursday despite reporting adjusted third-quarter earnings of $2.95 per share and revenue of $17.10 billion, compared with estimates of $2.86 per share and $16.82 billion. After Wednesday’s close, IBM’s Edge Stock Rankings showed a positive short-term price trend and negative medium- and long-term trends, alongside a strong quality score. The opening reference to IBM is incomplete in the source section.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) fell 2.92% in premarket trading on Thursday. Analysts expect first-quarter 2027 earnings of 4.08 per share and revenue of 4.13 billion after the closing bell. The company’s Edge Stock Rankings showed negative short- and medium-term price trends, a positive long-term trend and a strong growth score.

A related item said IBM CEO Says Open AI Models Are 90% as Good as Frontier Models: ‘Why Pay 10x More?’ In the previous session, information technology rose 1.67%, industrials gained 0.91% and financials advanced 0.57%. Communication services fell 1.11%, real estate declined 0.76% and consumer staples lost 0.73%. The Dow Jones gained 0.69% to 52856.09. The S&P 500 rose 0.58% to 7757.17, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.05% to 26702.86.

The Russell 2000 advanced 0.27% to 2781.02. The source begins an analyst-insights item naming Jeremy Siegel as a senior economist to WisdomTree and an emeritus professor of finance at The Wharton School of the University, but the text ends before the thought is complete. Siegel, of Pennsylvania, said the AI buildout has become a major force influencing technology stocks, long-term interest rates and shifts between growth and value. He said the biggest current driver of long-term rates is the substantial capital demand tied to AI investment, rather than oil, and potentially not the Federal Reserve’s next meeting.

Siegel said a shortfall in AI spending or token demand could, in his view, lead to a 20% to 30% correction in the Nasdaq, while the S&P 500 might fall 5% to 10%. He said he still did not expect the Fed to raise rates in October, but described December as less certain and said he would put the probability of a hike “extremely high.” Investors will monitor several economic releases on Thursday. Initial jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 17 are due at 8:30 a.m.

ET. September’s leading indicators data are scheduled for 10:00 a.m., followed by October’s Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey at 11:00 a.m. ET. WTI crude futures were up 2.76% in early New York trading, hovering around $99.83 per barrel.

The dollar declined 1.36% to around $4,085 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot fell 0.17% to 101.5185. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) traded at $81,722 per coin, down nearly 1.5% over the last 24 hours.

Asian markets fell on Thursday. Australia’s ASX 200, India’s Nifty 50, South Korea’s Kospi, China’s CSI 300, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei 225 were lower. European markets also traded lower in early trading.