4:20pm: Investors embrace risk again
US stocks staged a powerful comeback on Thursday, with investors piling back into risk assets after President Donald Trump said he had cancelled planned military strikes against Iran and suggested a diplomatic agreement could be close at hand.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 930 points, or 1.9%, to 50,849, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.8% to 7,394. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the advance, jumping 2.5% to 25,810 as traders reversed much of Wednesday's sharp sell-off.
Markets found relief after Trump said negotiations with Iran had reached the "highest level" of the country's leadership and indicated that details of a potential agreement could be announced soon. In a social media post, Trump said he had cancelled scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran, easing fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East that had rattled investors just a day earlier.
The shift in sentiment sparked broad-based buying across Wall Street, with technology and growth stocks leading the charge as traders moved back into riskier assets. The rally also helped restore confidence after inflation concerns and geopolitical tensions had triggered steep losses in the previous session.
Investors are now turning their attention to several key catalysts ahead. Adobe was set to report earnings after the closing bell, offering another test of appetite for artificial intelligence-related stocks, while markets are also gearing up for Friday's highly anticipated debut of SpaceX (SPCX), expected to be the largest initial public offering in history.
3:35pm: Proactive news headlines
- Namibia Critical Metals (TSX-V:NMI, OTCQB:NMREF) has launched a major drilling campaign at its Lofdal heavy rare earths project in Namibia aimed at expanding resources, including establishing a maiden resource estimate at Area 5 and increasing measured and indicated resources at Areas 4 and 2B.
- Fineqia International Inc (CSE:FNQ) said its UK subsidiary, Fineqia Limited, has been engaged by Club Coin Holdings to provide technology development and advisory services for Phase 1 product development, including tokenization, digital wallet design and crypto-related consulting.
- Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN, FRA:2RJA) said it will showcase its hospitality technology solutions at an industry conference next week after appointing hospitality technology veteran Brent McMahan as senior director of sales and previewing new features for its Guest Intelligence Platform.
- Medicus Pharma (NASDAQ:MDCX) has submitted an Investigational New Drug application in Abu Dhabi for a Phase 2a trial of its Teverelix drug candidate, which will evaluate treatment options for women with symptomatic endometriosis in the United Arab Emirates.
2:25pm: Market movers
- Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC, XETRA:INL) was upgraded to Buy from Underperform by Bank of America, which raised its price target to $135 on expectations that its CPU business and contract manufacturing arm will drive stronger long-term growth, with EPS projected to exceed $6 by 2030.
- Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL, XETRA:ORC) shares fell about 12% despite a strong quarterly performance, as investors focused on concerns over aggressive capital spending even though revenue rose 21% to $19.18 billion and earnings beat expectations.
- Navan Inc shares jumped more than 12% after the company reported strong quarterly results, highlighted by record gross bookings above $3 billion and 40% revenue growth as it gained market share.
- Premier African Minerals Ltd raised £800,000 through a share issuance to fund ongoing development at its Zulu lithium and tantalum project in Zimbabwe, while its stock fluctuated following the announcement.
12:35pm: Inflation pressures run hot
Producer price data for May pointed to stronger-than-expected inflation pressures, according to Bank of America analysts, with several components feeding into the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, coming in hot.
The bank noted that portfolio management and investment advisory services prices rebounded sharply, likely adding 9 basis points to core PCE inflation after subtracting 4 basis points in April. Healthcare-related producer prices also strengthened, while supply-side pressures tied to the Iran conflict and higher financial services costs helped lift the overall Producer Price Index.
As a result, Bank of America raised its estimate for monthly core PCE inflation to 0.35% from 0.27%, forecasting annual core PCE inflation to rise to 3.4% from 3.3%. Headline PCE inflation is expected to increase 0.48% in May, pushing the year-over-year rate to 4.1%, the highest level since April 2023.
The bank said that while some of the inflation strength reflects temporary or idiosyncratic factors, the acceleration in price pressures could make it difficult for the Federal Reserve to dismiss the uptick in inflation as policymakers prepare for Chair Warsh's first policy meeting next week.
11:20am: Deal hopes still on
Despite increasingly tough talk coming out of Washington, stock markets and oil traders still appear to be betting that the U.S. and Iran will ultimately reach a deal, according to Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG.
“Trump appears to be running through the Iran war hits of three months ago, only much faster," Beauchamp commented.
"Yesterday he threatened to restart the war, and now a seizure of Kharg is back on the agenda. But oil remains quiet, as traders take the view that his clear preference for a deal points towards an attempt to pile on the pressure on Iran to get an agreement across the line.”
10am: Semi stocks lead Nasdaq rebound
US stocks have opened in a positive mood, with Nasdaq up over 1% in the first half-hour of trading.
The Dow and the S&P 500 are both up 0.8%.
Nasdaq risers are led by Intel, up almost 10%, followed by Lam Research, Applied Materials, ARM Holdings, AMD, ASML and Marvell, with similar names topping the S&P.
Atop the Dow leaderboard are Caterpillar, Amgen, Sherwin-Williams and Honeywell International.
Blue-chip fallers are headed by Microsoft, Salesforce, Cisco and Amazon.
9.25am: US PPI inflation analysis
The US PPI inflation report shows "an intensifying shock to goods prices and an uptick in underlying services prices too", says economist Sam Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Prices for finished consumer goods, excluding food and energy, rose by 0.3% in May, "but faster increases lie ahead".
Prices for processed materials used as intermediate inputs, also excluding food and energy, rose by 1.8% in May, which Tombs says suggests if part of an "upstream pressure" consistent with final demand prices for core goods rising at a 5% yearly pace over coming months.
A 0.9% rise in prices for services excluding trade services was broad-based, he adds.
Looking ahead, the economist sees core PCE inflation was likely to be "little changed over the summer", with core goods prices responding to the recent jump in energy prices, "but base effects stemming from last year's tariff-related price rises will anchor the year-over-year rate".
Thereafter, he thinks inflation will "fall sharply around the turn of the year", meaning the Fed "will be less worried about inflation risks by the end of this year, reopening the door to rate cuts if the labor market falters again".
8.40am: Nasdaq futures rise, after small dent from Trump warning
Wall Street looked set to rebound strongly on Thursday, before Donald Trump published a warning that the US will conduct strikes on Iran "very hard tonight".
He added in a social media post that Washington "will be taking Kharg Island" and other oil infrastructure sites to "assume total control of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela".
This, and new factory gate inflation data. sent oil prices and bond yields spiking back higher, and knocked a little wind out of stock futures.
Nasdaq futures were still pointing 0.8% higher, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 called up 0.5% and 0.4%.
This follows a bruising sell-off in the previous session and comes as investors prepare for the prospect of the biggest stock market debut in history at the end of the week.
Wednesday was hotter-than-expected inflation data and escalating tensions between the US and Iran rattle markets, sending the Nasdaq Composite down 2%, the Dow Jones 1.9% lower and the S&P 500 losing 1.6%.
Investor sentiment was hit after data showed US consumer price inflation accelerated to 4.2% in May, the fastest annual pace in more than three years, raising concerns that interest rates could stay higher for longer.
Thursday saw May's producer price inflation rise 1.1% on the month, and 6.5% year-on-year, the sharpest 12-month gain since late 2022.
US benchmark WTI crude, which fell from $93 a barrel overnight to below $90 in the early morning, rebound back above that level following President Trump's latest remarks.
This might ordinarily not leave much market attention for IPOs, but SpaceX's long-awaited flotation is a different story.
Today is expected to bring confirmation of share allocations after founder Elon Musk set a fixed offer price of $135 a share.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the listing represents "the first major test for public markets after years of muted IPO activity", adding that SpaceX could pave the way for other high-profile technology listings.
With a planned $75 billion share sale and unusually large retail participation, investors are preparing for what could become a defining moment for equity markets in 2026.