【US Pre-Market】Oil Retreats After Surge, Nvidia Gains, Intel Under Pressure as Market Awaits CPI Data

TradingKey - On Tuesday, August 11, Eastern Time, pre-market futures on the three major U.S. stock indices rose across the board, with the market remaining cautious ahead of the release of U.S. July CPI data. Oil prices continued to rise due to limited progress in Strait of Hormuz negotiations, rekindling inflation concerns. Meanwhile, Nvidia's AI financing plan and Intel's follow-on equity offering led to mixed pre-market sentiment among tech stocks.

As of press time, Dow futures were up slightly by 0.02%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.30%.

Performance of the three major U.S. stock index futures, Source: Investing

In commodities, gold (XAUUSD) fluctuated at high levels, trading near $4,390; international oil prices surged before pulling back, with WTI (USOIL) crude dropping back to near $82 and Brent crude falling to near $87.7. Earlier, the uncertain prospect of reopening the Strait of Hormuz briefly pushed oil prices higher; subsequently, news that U.S.-Iran negotiations might make progress eased supply concerns, causing oil prices to fall back rapidly.

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) fluctuated around $64,300. Rising oil prices and wait-and-see sentiment ahead of the inflation data release weighed on high-volatility assets, keeping the overall crypto market weak.

Market Action

Nvidia (NVDA) rose over 1% in pre-market trading. Nvidia confirmed partnerships with financial institutions including Apollo, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and KKR, planning to mobilize more than $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructure construction. Although the market remains focused on potential pressure on capital expenditure returns from chip suppliers participating in AI data center financing, Nvidia's share price rebounded slightly in pre-market trading as Nasdaq futures ticked higher pre-market.

Intel (INTC) fell over 1% in pre-market trading. The company expanded its stock offering size from $15 billion to $20 billion at an offering price of $95 per share, planning to issue approximately 210.5 million common shares. The market is focused on the dilutive impact of this financing on existing shareholders, as well as whether subsequent capital expenditures can be effectively converted into AI manufacturing and advanced packaging orders.

Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell over 5% in pre-market trading. The company's second-quarter revenue was $234.1 million, exceeding market expectations, but its loss per share came in at $0.08, wider than expected.

The storage sector rose modestly across the board in pre-market trading. Micron Technology (MU) rose about 0.7% pre-market, SanDisk (SNDK) gained about 1%, Western Digital (WDC) rose about 0.9%, and Seagate Technology (STX) gained about 0.6%. Supported by expectations of AI server and data center storage demand, storage stocks recovered pre-market, but the sector remains affected by earlier high valuations and post-earnings volatility.

Market News

US July CPI will be released on Wednesday. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics schedule, July CPI will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on August 12, and PPI will be released on August 13. Inflation data will serve as a key variable affecting US Treasury yields, the US dollar, and US stock valuations this week.

Oil prices pulled back from high levels amid mixed news on US-Iran negotiations. Earlier, uncertain prospects for reopening the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices higher; subsequently, reports indicated positive progress in the negotiations, causing Brent crude to quickly retreat from high levels to around $86.

Anthropic reportedly signed a $9.1 billion cloud computing deal with Riot Platforms. According to reports, Anthropic reached a long-term AI computing power agreement with Riot Platforms (RIOT), under which it will use Riot's data center capacity in Rockdale, Texas, with expected revenue under the agreement reaching $9.1 billion.

The Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates unchanged. Australia's central bank maintained its benchmark interest rate at 4.35% on Tuesday and noted that energy prices and global inflationary pressures remain among policy risks.

Important Data and Events Preview

At 10:00 AM ET on August 11, the U.S. released July existing home sales data.

After market close on August 11 ET, Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Lumentum (LITE), and CoreWeave (CRWV) report earnings.