U.S. Pre-Market: Nonfarm Payrolls Arrive, U.S. Stocks Rise Pre-Market Ignoring Worsening U.S.-Iran Conflict, Oil Returns to $100

TradingKey - Before the bell on Friday, May 8, the three major U.S. stock index futures rose in unison as the market awaited the April non-farm payrolls report. Due to the escalation of the U.S.-Iran conflict, major stock indices in Europe and Asia fell sharply, and Brent crude oil rebounded for the first time in three days, briefly rising above $103.

On the news front, the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire again. The U.S. military struck Iranian coastal civilian areas and oil tankers, and the Iranian armed forces subsequently launched missiles at U.S. naval vessels in retaliation. The U.S. then carried out precision strikes on Iranian military facilities responsible for the attacks on U.S. forces. Trump stated this was just a "gentle tap" and that the ceasefire agreement remains in effect, but market concerns have intensified.

U.S. semiconductor stocks strengthened collectively pre-market, with Qualcomm (QCOM) rising over 5%, Intel (INTC) rising over 1.5%, NVIDIA (NVDA) rising nearly 1%, Micron Technology (MU) rising over 2%, SanDisk (SNDK) , Western Digital (WDC) rising over 1%.

Market Volatility

Qualcomm shares rose more than 5% in pre-market trading, following a 5% gain in the previous session where the stock hit a fresh one-year high. The rally primarily extends the positive momentum from the company's latest earnings report and management's reinforced messaging on its AI strategy.

Intel rose more than 2% in pre-market trading. The stock has gained a cumulative 18% over the last five trading sessions and is up 178% year-to-date. Driven by the surge in CPU demand from the AI agent wave, CPU-related stocks, including Intel, have seen significant gains recently.

Micron rose over 2% in pre-market trading. Affected by the broad sell-off in the U.S. market and the semiconductor sector in the previous session, Micron closed down 3% yesterday.

Data center developer IREN (IREN) jumped 10% in pre-market trading after NVIDIA announced an investment of up to $2.1 billion in the company; both parties also signed a multi-billion dollar computing power deployment cooperation agreement.

Glass materials giant Corning (GLW) rose over 4% in pre-market trading. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated that the company has paid billions of dollars in prepayments to Corning to support its new factory construction. Earlier this week, NVIDIA also disclosed an equity investment of up to $3.2 billion in Corning.

U.S. private aerospace company Rocket Lab (RKLB) jumped 7% in pre-market trading following the disclosure of better-than-expected Q1 earnings. The company's revenue grew 63.5% year-over-year this quarter, with GAAP gross margin hitting a record high of 38.2%, narrowed losses per share, and continued improvement in earnings quality.

Market Headlines

The U.S. and Iran traded fire again, but Trump still recognizes the ceasefire agreement as valid. Trump stated after the exchange of fire that U.S.-Iran negotiations are progressing very smoothly and a deal could be reached at any moment. Trump indicated that both sides are negotiating a memorandum of understanding centered on Iran not possessing nuclear weapons and surrendering enriched uranium, warning that if no deal is signed, "Iran will suffer greatly."

U.S. non-farm payroll data for April is set to be released, with market consensus expecting approximately 65,000 job additions, a sharp slowdown from March. Wall Street expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut this year are near zero and are unlikely to be swayed by the employment data.

Nvidia announced a partnership with data center operator IREN, with a total investment reaching up to $2.1 billion to build AI computing power infrastructure.

TSMC ( TSM) disclosed revenue data for April 2026, with revenue for the month reaching NT$410.73 billion, down 1.1% month-on-month and up 17.5% year-on-year, marking the smallest increase in nearly six months.

Key Data and Events Preview

On May 9, ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel will deliver a speech, while Fed official Austan Goolsbee, Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, and FOMC member Mary Daly are also scheduled to speak.