Preview of US Stock Market | Three major stock index futures fell together, tensions between the US and Iran escalated again, oil prices surged, and technology stocks continued to decline.

Pre-market market trends 1. Before the opening on Wednesday, July 8, the futures of the three major U.S. stock indexes all fell. As of the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 1.15%, the S&P 500 index futures fell by 0.92%, and the Nasdaq futures fell by 1.38%. 2. As of the time of writing, the Germany DAX index fell by 2.16%, the UK FTSE 100 index fell by 1.33%, the France CAC 40 index fell by 2.01%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell by 1.85%. 3. As of the time of writing, WTI crude oil rose by 5.51% to $74.32 per barrel, and Brent crude oil rose by 5.69% to $78.38 per barrel. Market News U.S.-Iran conflict escalates again! In the early hours of July 8 local time, explosions were reported in multiple locations in southern Iran. The U.S. subsequently announced a new round of airstrikes against coastal targets in Iran and revoked the 60-day authorization for Iran's oil production, delivery, and sale that was issued earlier, in response to recent attacks by Iran near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran later stated that the U.S. attacks and reinstatement of oil sanctions seriously violated the Iran-U.S. understanding memorandum, and expressed strong condemnation. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran claimed to have targeted 85 U.S. military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to the violation of the ceasefire by the U.S. President Trump also stated at the NATO summit on July 8 that he believes the Iran-U.S. understanding memorandum has "ended." When asked by reporters, he said that he believes the memorandum has "ended" and will inform U.S. negotiators, also stating he does not want to engage with Iran again. From AI computational power beta to "cash flow defense"! As AI semiconductor declines, Wall Street strategy shifts to "low-pressure high-quality stocks." Jefferies Financial Group Inc., a Wall Street financial giant, advises investors to hold high-quality, low-profit, low-pressure, and low-crowded stocks in the near future to safely navigate a possible summer tech stock market downturn. With the congestion trading and deleveraging turmoil in the AI semiconductor related to the AI investment boom, the market volatility is rising significantly. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s latest view aligns with top strategists like Morgan Stanley's senior strategist Wilson, shifting positions from high-crowding, high-leverage, and high-beta AI computational power trading themes to high-quality, low momentum, ample cash flow, and strong fundamental cyclical and defensive stocks that have not seen the gains this year. Nasdaq's 18% year-to-date rise has stopped? Predictive platform shows a 50-50 split between long and short positions, with only a 27% probability of breaking through 33,000 points this year. The Nasdaq 100 Index has risen by about 18% in 2026, but trading views on the Kalshi predictive market platform indicate that the index may not see much more growth in the second half of the year. Speculators believe that the index, which has a high weighting in tech stocks, has about a 50-50 chance of surpassing 30,000 points by the end of the year, a milestone it first crossed in late May. The significant surge in the Nasdaq 100 Index this year occurred after the U.S. stock market hit a low point due to the U.S.-Iran conflict on March 30. From then until June 2, the index, consisting of the 100 largest non-financial stocks in the Nasdaq, surged by over 33%, driven by renewed confidence in AI trading. However, traders now seem to believe that this bull market has lost steam. Rate hikes are still being priced in, but options traders are quietly turning: Betting that the Fed's "hawkish" stance won't last. Options traders are increasing their bets that the market overall is overestimating the extent of the Fed's rate hikes this year. This dovish shift began last week. Federal Reserve Chair Powell said at the European Central Bank's conference in Sintra, Portugal, that inflation risks have somewhat diminished. Subsequently, money flow related to options with secured overnight financing rates (SOFR) is leaning towards positions that are expected to benefit when expectations for rate hikes in the swap markets fade. In the current macroeconomic context, some strategists are beginning to question whether the swap markets are pricing in Fed policy tightening. With tensions easing in the Middle East, oil prices are falling back to levels before the late February war breakout, alleviating overall inflation concerns. One particularly prominent position this week reflects this hedging activity - buying SOFR call options, betting that the Fed's policy direction will completely shift, leading the central bank to cut rates before the end of the year rather than raise borrowing costs. Fed's "troika": Energy decline helps push inflation lower, current monetary policy is still in a favorable position. New York Fed President John Williams said he expects the decline in energy prices to push overall inflation lower in the coming months, and reiterated that the Fed's policy is currently in a favorable position. Williams said, "With the decline in energy prices we'll see, I'm a little more optimistic about the near-term inflation outlook." He added, "I believe our policy is in a favorable position," able to fulfill the Fed's responsibilities. Williams also stated that the labor market is stabilizing and economic growth remains robust. The New York Fed official noted that there is a "strong consensus" among Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members to cancel forward guidance on future rate paths in their statement after the June meeting. Stock News U.S. tech stocks continue to decline. Before the market opened on Wednesday, as of the time of writing, storage chip stocks were falling, with SanDisk (SNDK.US) down more than 5%, Western Digital Corporation (WDC.US) and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) down more than 4%, and Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (STX.US) down more than 3%. In the optical communication sector, Astera Labs (ALAB.US), AXT Inc (AXTI.US), Credo Technology (CRDO.US) fell by more than 4%, Coherent (COHR.US), Marvell Technology, Inc. (MRVL.US), Corning Inc (GLW.US) fell by more than 3%, Nokia Oyj Sponsored ADR (NOK.US), Lumentum (LITE.US), Tower Semiconductor Ltd (TSEM.US) fell by over 2%. In addition, Intel Corporation (INTC.US), AMD (AMD.US), Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US) fell by over 2%, Qualcomm (QCOM.US), ASML Holding NV ADR (ASML.US), Meta (META.US), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US), NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US), Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) fell by nearly 2%. AI search domain leader Perplexity adopts Vera CPU! Under the wave of AI, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) aims for the $200 billion general computing battlefield. The leading AI search platform Perplexity AI has confirmed that it plans to use NVIDIA Corporation's exclusive data center central processing unit (CPU) - the Vera CPU, on a large scale. The world's largest market value company and AI chip supergiant is striving to expand its market share and challenge Intel Corporation (INTC.US) and AMD (AMD.US), the two super giants in the x86 architecture CPU domain in the data center. NVIDIA Corporation's management recently stated that they anticipate generating approximately $20 billion in revenue from their "Vera" CPU product by the end of this fiscal year; this is a more universally applicable level of computing chip compared to their AI GPU series products. As OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepSeek,among other AI companies, are all focusing on developing their own AI training/inference acceleration chips, the Vera CPU chip is an important part of NVIDIA Corporation's effort to diversify its sales revenue. Details of the Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US) heavyweight custom ASIC agreement revealed: Valued at over $30 billion, "Made in America" will produce 15 billion chips. Apple Inc. announced on Wednesday that their multi-year agreement with Broadcom Inc. is expected to have a total value exceeding $30 billion, with both companies designing and producing custom chip components and cutting-edge wireless connectivity technology for multiple Apple Inc. products. Under the agreement, Broadcom Inc. will produce over 15 billion chips in the U.S. and invest $1.5 billion in expanding and upgrading capacity at their Collinsville, Colorado factory. Broadcom Inc. filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, disclosing that the technology collaboration between the two companies would extend until 2031, with Broadcom Inc. developing and supplying custom ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chip products for multiple generations of Apple Inc. products. As part of the agreement, Broadcom Inc. will invest $1.5 billion to expand their manufacturing facility in Collinsville, Colorado. Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM.US) previews earnings: Middle East conflict drives oil prices sharply higher, Q2 quarterly profit jumps nearly $4 billion. Exxon Mobil Corporation's second-quarter profit surged nearly $4 billion due to rising international oil prices driven by the Iran conflict. The Texas-based company said in a statement on Tuesday that the surge in the crude oil market brought about $3.7 billion in profit increases, while refining and petrochemical businesses contributed an additional $3.3 billion in revenue. However, Exxon Mobil Corporation noted that some of these favorable factors were partially offset by approximately $1.2 billion in losses caused by production disruptions in the Middle East region. The company will officially release the full financial report on July 31. The statement also showed that Exxon Mobil Corporation's second-quarter derivative positions related to physical commodity deliveries are expected to generate approximately $2.6 billion in profit. Global iron ore exporter Hub Group, Inc. Class A faces shutdown risks! Some employees at BHP Group Ltd Sponsored American Depositary Receipt Repr 2 Shs (BHP.US) Port Hedland may go on strike. The union announced on Wednesday that employees at the iron ore terminal in Port Hedland, Western Australia, operated by BHP Group Ltd Sponsored American Depositary Receipt Repr 2 Shs, will hold an 8-hour strike on July 16. This escalation of industrial action will intensify tensions between the union and the mining giant, potentially putting some iron ore supplies at risk. The industrial action will involve the operators and maintenance personnel at the world's largest iron ore export terminal in Port Hedland, represented by the Maritime Union of Australia. In a statement on Wednesday, the union stated that employees seek to reach a new agreement that recognizes their professional skills, challenging work environment, and the significant personal costs they bear. A spokesperson for BHP Group Ltd Sponsored American Depositary Receipt Repr 2 Shs stated that the company "remains focused on reaching a fair, competitive, and reasonable agreement." Earnings Preview Pre-market on Thursday: PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP.US)