Markets Pre-Open
U.S. equity futures are on the back foot again Thursday morning, with the Nasdaq leading losses as traders digest a fourth straight day of oil-driven volatility ahead of Friday’s CPI print.
- S&P 500: 7,596.80 (-0.52%)
- Dow 30: 52,183.95 (-0.38%)
- Nasdaq Composite: 26,253.34 (-0.64%)
- Russell 2000: 2,921.23 (-1.32%)
- VIX: 17.67 (+7.36%) — fear gauge waking up
- 10-Yr Treasury yield: 4.918% (+1.67%)
Asia (overnight): Mixed. Nikkei 225 +0.20% to 65,270.95; Sensex +0.19%; KOSPI -0.25%; Hang Seng -1.27%; Shanghai Composite -0.43%; ASX 200 -1.03%.
Europe (early): Broadly lower. FTSE 100 -0.41%, DAX -0.61%, CAC 40 -0.36%, EURO STOXX 50 -0.63%.
Initial Jobless Claims print at 8:30 AM ET (prior: 206K). All eyes then shift to tomorrow’s CPI (Sept 11, 8:30 AM ET) — consensus 3.4% YoY, 0.1% MoM.
Geopolitical Intel (ThinkCreate Feed)
- [LVL 7/10] Renewed attention on the 25-year “Forever War” retrospective out of Afghanistan — not a new kinetic event, but a signal of heightened regional coverage (NYT).
- [LVL 5/10] U.S. military destroyed 5 Iranian oil tankers in the Persian Gulf this week — the proximate driver of oil’s move toward $100 (NPR).
- [LVL 5/10] Yemen back on the brink of war; Houthi activity testing Saudi restraint (NYT/Al Jazeera).
- [LVL 4/10] Tropical Cyclone Norbert-26 tracked in the Eastern Pacific; multiple GDACS forest-fire notices in Australia and DR Congo/Zambia — low market relevance.
- [LVL 3/10] Reports of ICE-related protests drawing scrutiny; domestic political noise rather than a market driver.
Defense stocks (reacting to Gulf escalation): RTX $197.55 (-0.63%) | LMT $524.46 (-2.18%) | NOC $515.57 (-0.58%) | GD $352.67 (-1.10%) | BA $206.42 (-2.05%) | PLTR $169.53 (-0.45%)
Defense names are not rallying on the tanker strikes — profit-taking after a strong run, and broader tech/industrial weakness (Vertiv -9.6%, AVAV -5.4% premarket) is dragging the tape.
Live data snapshot: 26,948 vessels tracked, 546 active satellites, 36 earthquakes (24h), 849 GDELT global incidents flagged.
Commodities & Currencies
Oil is the story of the week — U.S. strikes on Iranian tankers have pushed crude decisively through the psychological $100 level for the second time this week.
- WTI Crude: $100.11 (+4.23%)
- Brent Crude: $105.27 (+4.01%)
- Natural Gas: $2.783 (-1.38%)
- Gold: $4,393.30 (-1.51%) — surprising softness given the risk-off tone; likely profit-taking after a huge run
- Silver: $65.07 (-5.22%)
- Copper: $6.56 (-4.73%)
- Platinum: $1,808.90 (-5.74%)
Currencies: US Dollar Index 99.12 (+0.30%). EUR/USD 1.1606 (-0.28%). USD/JPY 154.20 (+0.45%). Broad-based dollar strength on the risk-off/oil-driven flows.
Crypto: Bitcoin $76,897 (-2.81%), Ethereum $2,473 (-0.62%) — risk assets under pressure alongside equities.
Earnings
Reporting today (AMC) — the big one:
- Oracle (ORCL) — Q1 FY2027, EPS est. $1.74. The headline event of the week: Oracle carries a record $638B RPO/backlog fueled by AI infrastructure demand, but its capital budget now runs more than 2x operating cash flow. Options markets are pricing a large move either direction. Stock has been soft into the print despite the AI backlog story — “bad news priced in” is the bull case going around.
- Adobe (ADBE) — Q3 FY2026, EPS est. $6.09. First earnings report since naming its next CEO; AI-monetization skepticism has weighed on the stock, though a recent Roundtable 100 upgrade cited tripling AI revenue.
- Macy’s (M) — already reported BMO: beat on EPS/revenue, raised FY guidance, but stock fell ~5% anyway on soft forward commentary — a “sell the beat” reaction.
- Also today: Copart (CPRT), RH, Lovesac (LOVE, missed and fell double digits), American Eagle (AEO, beat), Designer Brands (DBI, beat/raised guidance).
Reporting tomorrow (Sept 11, BMO):
- Kroger (KR) — Q2 FY2026, EPS est. $1.00. Grocery-margin and traffic questions persist heading in.
- Hooker Furnishings (HOFT), Rent the Runway (RENT), MoneyHero (MNY) — smaller caps, low market impact.
Bottom Line
Oil-driven risk-off dominates the tape again — WTI’s second run at $100 this week (on confirmed U.S. strikes on Iranian tankers) is doing more to move markets than anything else, dragging equities lower and juicing the VIX +7% even as gold and silver see profit-taking. All of that is a preamble to tonight’s real catalyst: Oracle’s AI-backlog reckoning after the bell, with Adobe right behind it — how those two trade will set the tone into tomorrow’s CPI print.