Tonight Highlights | U.S. Futures Rise on Peace Optimism; Netflix Plunges 10% Pre-market
U.S. equity futures trended higher on Friday as investors maintained an optimistic outlook regarding a potential U.S.-Iran peace framework. Major European indices followed suit, posting broad gains across the continent.
Sentiment was bolstered by President Trump’s remarks on Thursday, indicating that negotiations with Iran could resume as early as this weekend. Trump further signaled his willingness to travel to Islamabad, Pakistan, to personally broker the agreement. Consequently, international oil prices retreated, with Brent crude futures hovering near $95 per barrel.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are coming off fresh record closes, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq securing its 12th consecutive winning session. All three major indices are on track for substantial weekly gains: as of Thursday’s close, the Dow is up 1.4%, the S&P 500 has climbed 3.3%, and the Nasdaq has surged 5.2%.
However, Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab, warned that the rally’s "lack of breadth" raises questions about its sustainability. "Hitting record highs in 11 days is fine, but we need to see broader sector participation to have more confidence in the longevity of this upswing," she noted.
Corporate Briefs
Netflix Slumps on Guidance: Netflix shares dropped nearly 10% in pre-market trading following disappointing forward-looking guidance. The company also announced that co-founder Reed Hastings will step down from the board this summer.
OpenAI’s $20B Chip Deal: OpenAI has reportedly reached a landmark agreement to spend over $20 billion over the next three years to utilize servers powered by Cerebras chips. As part of the deal, OpenAI will also acquire an equity stake in Cerebras, a move aimed at drastically reducing long-term compute costs.
Anthropic Targets Gov Contracts: Anthropic is in discussions with the U.S. government to provide access to its new Mythos model. Officials at the Treasury and other agencies are reportedly eager to test the model’s advanced cybersecurity vulnerability detection capabilities.
Intel Poaches Samsung Executive: In a bid to expand its foundry business, Intel has hired Shawn Han, a former Executive VP at Samsung, to serve as General Manager of Intel Foundry Services starting next month.
Google Launches Simula: Google introduced Simula, a synthetic data generation framework designed for custom AI development. Simula aims to solve the high cost and compliance risks associated with traditional web data by providing mathematically rigorous synthetic datasets for edge-case scenarios.
OpenAI’s Biotech Breakthrough: OpenAI announced GPT-Rosalind, a specialized reasoning model designed for drug discovery and translational medicine. The model is currently available as a research preview for eligible institutional clients.
Vale: Reported a 3% YoY increase in Q1 iron ore production to 69.7 million tons, while copper and nickel output surged 13% and 12%, respectively.
Uber Expands in Europe: Uber spent $318 million to acquire an additional 4.5% stake in Delivery Hero from Prosus, following regulatory maneuvers involving the European food delivery market.