【US Pre-Market】US-Iran Conflict Pushes Brent Above $100, US Futures Under Pressure, Memory Chip Stocks Rise, Meta Gains Over 5%

TradingKey - On Wednesday, September 9, Eastern Time, futures on the three major U.S. stock indices traded cautiously in pre-market action. The U.S.-Iran military conflict escalated further, with Brent crude breaking above $100 per barrel for the first time since July. Surging oil prices stoked market concerns over a potential inflation rebound and prolonged high interest rates, putting U.S. stock futures under pressure.

As of press time, Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.50%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.38%, and Dow 30 futures dropped 0.59%.

Source: Investing

In commodities, gold (XAUUSD) fluctuated above $4,400 per ounce, while silver (XAGUSD) was quoted at around $66.6 per ounce. Middle East tensions provided safe-haven support for precious metals, but inflationary pressures from rising oil prices capped further gains.

International oil prices continued to rise, with WTI (USOIL) crude breaking above $95 per barrel and Brent crude (UKOIL) briefly surging past $100 per barrel. The U.S. military announced the destruction of five Iranian oil tankers carrying crude oil, and Iran subsequently fired missiles at U.S. military targets in Jordan while issuing warnings to vessels in the Persian Gulf, significantly raising energy supply and shipping risks.

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTCUSD) approached the $80,000 threshold. Market risk appetite remained cautious, with investors continuing to monitor the impact of rising energy prices on global liquidity and monetary policy.

Market Moves

Chime Financial (CHYM) rose over 11% pre-market. The company announced it will acquire its long-time partner Stride Bank for $590 million in cash, further transitioning from a fintech platform into a licensed bank. Chime also raised its third-quarter and full-year guidance, bolstering market confidence in its growth and profitability prospects.

Nokia (NOK) rose over 5% pre-market. The company launched Mobile Core Early Access, the industry's first managed live-testing platform for mobile core networks, open to global telecom operators and enterprises. Customers can test technologies such as 5G core networks, network automation, and AI-native networks in advance in a live network environment without building their own testing infrastructure.

Meta (META) rose over 5% pre-market. The company launched Muse, an AI personal agent app that focuses not only on answering questions but also on performing digital tasks on behalf of users, such as booking services, filling out electronic forms, and monitoring home security cameras.

Casey's General Stores (CASY) fell over 8% pre-market. The company reported first-fiscal-quarter earnings per share of $7.37 and revenue of $5.68 billion, both beating market expectations. However, its full-year outlook was kept unchanged, disappointing investors who were expecting a guidance raise.

Memory chip stocks gained across the board pre-market. SK Hynix (SKHY) and SanDisk (SNDK) rose over 1%, Micron Technology (MU) gained about 0.8%, Seagate Technology (STX) rose about 0.5%, and Western Digital (WDC) added about 0.44%.

Top Market News

US-Iran conflict escalates as Brent crude tops $100. US Central Command announced the destruction of five Iranian crude tankers, calling it a countermeasure against Iran's two attempts to attack US Navy vessels with ballistic missiles.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps subsequently announced a missile strike on a US base in Jordan, as well as attacks on two US vessels and eight tankers attempting to pass through waters near the Strait of Hormuz. Jordanian officials stated that 18 of the 20 missiles fired by Iran were intercepted, while the remaining two fell into uninhabited areas.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that reciprocal strikes between the US and Iran may be difficult to stop in the short term. Mounting market concerns over further disruptions to Persian Gulf oil supply and shipping pushed Brent crude to touch the $100 threshold.

Google plans €13 billion AI infrastructure investment in Finland. Alphabet (GOOGL) plans to invest at least €13 billion, or about $15.1 billion, in Finland over the next two years to build at least three new data centers and expand its existing facility in Hamina. This will mark one of Google's largest investments in Europe to date. Google fell over 2% in pre-market trading.

Key Anthropic researcher resigns on the eve of IPO. Jacob Coxon, a key researcher at Anthropic responsible for large language model pre-training and data processing, unexpectedly resigned and announced his departure from the AI industry. The personnel change comes at a sensitive stage as Anthropic prepares for an IPO, potentially raising outside concerns over the stability of the company's core technical team and its stance on AI safety.

OpenAI and Samsung deepen next-generation chip partnership. OpenAI stated that it is collaborating with Samsung Electronics on joint production and R&D for next-generation AI chips. Harrison Kim, general manager of OpenAI Korea, said semiconductors are one of the areas with the most visible progress in their partnership, though chip specifications, manufacturing processes, and Samsung's specific responsibilities have not yet been disclosed.

Uber launches inaugural euro bond offering. Uber (UBER) has launched its inaugural euro bond offering, which is expected to be priced later Wednesday. The offering spans five maturities—3-year, 6-year, 8-year, 12-year, and 20-year—underwritten by Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley. As of press time, Uber rose about 1.27% in pre-market trading.

Kioxia denies deepening cooperation with SK Hynix. According to Bloomberg, management at Kioxia Holdings ruled out the possibility of further expanding cooperation with rival and shareholder SK Hynix (SKHY). Kioxia also stated that it will work to prevent memory chip prices from rising too rapidly to avoid driving up AI infrastructure costs and dampening long-term demand.

Key Data and Events Preview

At 8:15 a.m. ET, the U.S. releases the ADP weekly employment change.

Apple (AAPL) holds a new product launch event.