Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on June 9, 2026.
NYSE
Stock futures slid on Wednesday night after the U.S. launched additional attacks against Iran, sending oil prices higher.
S&P 500 futures lost 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.6%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 123 points, or 0.3%.
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi leading losses. The Kospi dropped 4.1% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 2.3% and Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.97%.
Shares of Oracle dropped more than 11% in extended trading after the software giant announced plans to raise an additional $20 billion in equity and debt to pay for its artificial intelligence buildout. The decline weighed on S&P 500 futures and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV), heralding potential losses in the tech sector in the upcoming session.
U.S. Central Command forces launched more “self-defense strikes” against Iran late Wednesday, according to Centcom’s post on social media platform X. The attacks came at the direction of President Donald Trump, according to the post. West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced nearly 3% to trade around $92 a barrel.
Stocks fell during Wednesday’s regular trading session, thanks to another rout in the chip sector and a ramp-up in tensions with Iran. The Dow tumbled 953.33 points, or 1.87%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.62%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.98%.
Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark Global Investments, said that many investors are now buying into what they believe to be the opposite of the artificial intelligence trade that drove stocks for much of this year.
“I think what people are saying are, where can we go that kind of hedges that tech trade? What would be the antithesis of the momentum and the beta?” she said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday afternoon. “We’re seeing that rotation out of tech into some things that have been beaten down a little bit over the past months.”
Fernandez added that she’s seen her clients increasingly put money into other areas such as pharmaceuticals and biotech within healthcare, as well as the financials and energy sectors.
The fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was further threatened on Wednesday, after Trump signaled that Tehran was taking “too long” to agree to a potential deal and would “pay the price.” He also pledged more strikes against the country, saying that the U.S. will be “attacking them very hard.”
Investors will be keeping a close eye on May’s producer price index reading, which will be released on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the wholesale inflation reading to have risen 0.7% on a monthly basis, while core inflation — which excludes volatile food and energy prices — is forecast to have added 0.5%. This is below the respective 1.4% and 1% headline and core increases in April.
Traders will also watch for initial jobless claims from the week ended June 6 on Thursday morning.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slides over 2%, South Korea’s Kospi drops over 4%
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi leading losses.
The Kospi dropped 4.1% in early trading, while the small-cap Kosdaq lost 2.8%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 2.3% and the Topix slipped 1.9%.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.97%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures last traded at 24,307, lower than the index’s Wednesday close of 24,407.96.
—Justina Lee
Asia-Pacific markets set to open lower as renewed Iran war worries fuel risk-off mood
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower Thursday, as fresh tensions in the Middle East and higher oil prices fuel risk-off sentiment.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was poised to decline, with the Chicago futures contract at 62,935 and its Osaka counterpart last trading at 63,140, compared with the index’s previous close of 64,179.27.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures last traded at 24,307, lower than the index’s Wednesday close of 24,407.96.
In Australia, futures for the S&P/ASX 200 last traded at 8,601, while the index closed at 8,653.30.
The U.S. started striking Iran on Wednesday, raising worries that the conflict escalating. In a post on X, U.S. Central Command said that the U.S. military began “launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction.”
Tehran has targeted U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz with missile and drone attacks, according to Iranian state media.
—Justina Lee
Fixed-income investors should stay high in quality amid geopolitical turmoil, says Pimco
Investors ought to stick with high quality assets in their fixed income portfolios as the global economy navigates turmoil in the Middle East and inflationary forces, according to Pimco’s 2026 secular outlook.
“Fragmentation is becoming evident around the world in energy prices, supply chain data, growth rates, and investment returns,” said the report, authored by global economic advisor Richard Clarida, chief investment officer of global fixed income Andrew Balls and CIO Dan Ivascyn. “The cost of complacency has surged. Investors can no longer rely on outdated assumptions about globalization, policy backstops, and suppressed volatility.”
However, investment opportunities remain abundant thanks to the generational reset in bond yields a few years ago, the Pimco team wrote. It just means staying up in quality.
“Investors can seek to construct globally diversified, high quality fixed income portfolios with yields of 5%–7% in local-currency terms – competitive with long-run equity returns at lower potential volatility,” they said.
The firm expects “significantly higher losses” in lower-credit quality assets.
— Michelle Fox
Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: Oracle and Navan
These are the stocks moving the most in extended-hours trading:
- Oracle — Shares shed more than 9% after the software giant shared plans to raise an additional $20 billion in equity and debt to pay for its artificial intelligence buildout. However, the company reported an overall beat on both the top and bottom lines and raised its adjusted profit forecast for the year.
- Navan — Shares jumped 18% after the travel management platform guided for second-quarter and full-year revenue that came in above FactSet’s forecasts. Navan also reported a first-quarter non-GAAP earnings and revenue beat.
— Lisa Kailai Han
