Hegseth says on Iran: ‘This is not Iraq. This is not endless.
Army Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that the operation in Iran would not be “open-ended” as it was in Iraq.
March 6 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as escalating conflict in the Middle East threatened to fuel inflation through higher energy costs and investors awaited key jobs data.
The US and Israeli air campaign against Iran was about to enter its first week with no end in sight. Oil prices this week rose by the most since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz was halted.
According to the report, natural gas producer Qatar said that even if the Middle East war ended immediately, it would take “weeks to months” to return to a normal supply cycle.
Oil prices edged higher, with airlines American AAL.O and Delta DAL.N down 1% in premarket trading. The S&P 500’s passenger aviation subindex .SPLRCALI is expected to fall 9% for the week.
The weekly jobs report is a big focus for investors who are also focused on the employment impact of companies’ integration of artificial intelligence. Reports are due by 8:30 a.m. ET.
Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by 25 basis points from July to October last month have been undermined by better-than-expected economic data overall this week and higher oil prices, according to data compiled by LSEG.
As of 5:14 a.m. ET, the Dow E-mini YMcv1 was down 130 points, or 0.27%, and the S&P 500 E-mini EScv1 was down 23 points, or 0.34%. The NASDAQ 100E Mini NQcv1 fell 102.5 points (0.41%).
AI chip stocks Nvidia Inc NVDA.O and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O each fell about 0.7%. U.S. authorities are discussing a new regulatory framework for the export of artificial intelligence chips, but the rules were not final.
Despite the gloomy mood, U.S. stocks have outperformed their Asian and European counterparts this week, helped by a 1.5 percent recovery in tech stocks .SPLRCT from February’s slide. The NASDAQ .IXIC, which has a high proportion of high-tech stocks, continues to rise slightly on a weekly basis.
Marvell Technology rose 12% after the chip company reported stronger-than-expected fiscal 2028 revenue.
Sentiment is also supported by the belief that the United States is better protected from energy shocks because it is a net exporter of oil.
Energy company Occidental OXY.N rose 2% on Friday, while NextDecade NEXT.O rose 2.3%. Natural gas exchange-traded funds BOIL.P and UNG.P rose 2.2% and 1%, respectively.
Among other things, Gap fell 5.9% after it warned of pressure and uncertainty from U.S. import tariffs and expected full-year adjusted profit to be significantly lower than expected.
Oracle rose 1% on reports that the enterprise software company plans to cut thousands of jobs as it faces a cash crunch from a massive AI data center expansion.
(Reporting by Johan M. Cherian in Bangalore; Editing by Devika Shamnath)
