Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on July 17, 2026 in New York City.
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Stock futures were mixed early Monday after the three major averages posted weekly losses, as escalating Middle East tensions dent investor sentiment and send oil prices higher.
S&P 500 futures traded up 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures traded 0.5% higher. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat, down 14 points.
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed early Monday, amid concerns over escalating tensions in the Middle East. The Kospi dropped 0.74% at open, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 1.66%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.34% higher. Japanese markets are closed for a holiday.
The three leading U.S. indexes closed in the red last week, as pressure on chip stocks weighed on sentiment. The S&P 500 dropped 1.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite sank 2.9%, and the 30-stock Dow lost 0.9%. Additionally, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) saw its third weekly decline in four weeks, losing nearly 9%.
Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG, believes there may be even more declines in store for semiconductors from here.
“They could certainly bounce here in the short term, but we don’t see signs of kind of that real big washout that you’re looking for,” he told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” Friday. “It’s probably too soon if you just think about two weeks ago, really, we had record volumes on the upside for names like Micron and the like, so I think it’s probably premature to look for a bottom there.”
Traders continued to monitor the conflict in the Middle East, with tensions between the U.S. and Iran ramping up over the weekend.
The U.S. military began a ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Sunday, extending a campaign aimed at destroying Tehran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The escalation in hostilities placed increasing strain on the fragile truce between the two countries.
The U.S. Central Command said a third service member had been killed during the recent fighting. American forces also “found unidentified remains” near the site of an Iranian attack in Jordan on July 17 that saw two killed, Centcom said. The U.S. is working to identify the remains.
Oil futures rose following the developments. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were last up 3% to trade above $85 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude futures gained 3% to above $91 a barrel.
Traders are also awaiting the latest batch of earnings set to drop this week. “Magnificent Seven” members Alphabet and Tesla are among those to report, doing so after the bell on Wednesday. Intel โ which recorded a 13% drop last week amid the drawdown in chip prices โ is slated to release on Thursday.
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