Tonight’s Highlights | Ceasefire Hopes Rise as U.S. and Iran Edge Closer to Deal; Index Futures Rally While Crude Plunges
U.S. stock index futures rose collectively on Wednesday, alongside a broad rally in major European indices, following reports that the United States and Iran are nearing an agreement to end their conflict.
Citing Pakistani sources, outlets including Axios and Reuters reported on May 6 that the two nations are "close to reaching a one-page memorandum" to end the war, which reportedly includes a suspension of nuclear enrichment activities.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed the government is currently evaluating the U.S. proposal.
However, President Trump later tempered expectations on Truth Social, stating that a deal is not yet a certainty. He warned that "bombing will begin" at an unprecedented scale and intensity if Iran fails to agree to the terms.
Oil prices plummeted as traders moved to reduce risk exposure on the prospect of a resolution.
International benchmark Brent crude briefly dropped 9% toward $100 per barrel before paring some losses to trade down 6.92% at $102.95.
Meanwhile, spot gold rose nearly 3% as the market reacted to the shifting geopolitical landscape.
Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, noted that the market appears to be "climbing a wall of worry."
She emphasized that the significant earnings cushion provided by AI-related trades within the S&P 500 is helping the market absorb geopolitical shocks.
Chip giant AMD saw its shares surge as much as 20% in pre-market trading after exceeding first-quarter expectations and issuing an optimistic outlook for the second quarter.
Corporate News
SpaceX: New filings show Elon Musk’s company plans to invest $55 billion to build a new semiconductor facility in Grimes County, Texas, as part of its "Terafab" project, with total investments potentially reaching $119 billion.
Corning & Nvidia: The companies announced a multi-year partnership to bolster U.S. production of optical connectivity solutions for AI infrastructure; Corning plans to increase its optical connectivity capacity tenfold and fiber output by over 50%, a move that sent its shares up more than 16% in pre-market trading.
Disney: Reported a 7% year-over-year increase in second-quarter revenue to $25.17 billion, with adjusted earnings rising 8% to $1.57 per share, driving its shares up over 5%.
TotalEnergies: Revealed a collaboration with Dell and Nvidia to design and install the Pangea 5 supercomputer in France, a project exceeding €100 million aimed at increasing the company’s computing power sixfold by 2027.
Novo Nordisk: Raised its 2026 performance outlook following strong GLP-1 product sales and a first-quarter operating profit of 32.86 billion DKK, causing its shares to gain 6% pre-market.
Infineon: Posted second-quarter revenue of €3.81 billion and expects third-quarter revenue to reach approximately €4.1 billion.
OpenAI: President Greg Brockman testified that the company expects to spend $50 billion on computing power this year alone, with total compute spending projected to reach $600 billion by 2030.