US Stock Futures Slide As Israel Strikes On Iran Trigger Risk-Off Mood - But S&P 500 May Still Have Legs, Says Strategist

U.S. stock futures fell sharply in overnight trading as Israeli air strikes on a nuclear installation in Iran sapped the risk appetite of traders.

In a video clip shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his X handle, he confirmed the operations, dubbed“Rising Lion”, that started early Friday. The targeted military operation aims to roll back the Iranian nuclear threat. 

He also said the operation could continue for many days until the threat is removed.

“We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear installation program; We struck at the heart of Iran's weaponization program,” Netanyahu added.

As of 11:21 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 futures tumbled 2.65%, while the Nasdaq 100 and S & P 500 futures lost about 1.60%. The Dow futures fell about 1.40%.

Crude oil futures spiked nearly 10% to $74.60 a barrel in the Asian session amid renewed Middle East tension. Safe-haven gold gained 1.60% to $3,456.35 an ounce as it marched toward its all-time high of $3,509.90, reached in late April.

The dollar is rising against most major currencies on its safe-haven appeal.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield continued its descent and was last at 4.324% in overnight trading.

Asian markets were swathed in a sea of red following the Israeli strikes.

On the economic front, the University of Michigan's preliminary U.S. consumer sentiment index for June is due at 10 a.m. ET. Economists, on average, expect the index to rise to 54 from 52.2 in May.

Stocks resumed their uptrend on Thursday as traders took stock of another tame inflation reading and weekly jobless claims report that underlined the soft labor market patch. Oracle's (ORCL) earnings also perked up sentiment toward artificial intelligence (AI) trades.

The S & P 500 is slowly and steadily progressing toward its Feb. 19 all-time high of $6,147,43.

According to LPL Chief Technical Strategist Adam Turnquist, the wait for a new S & P 500 could be over soon. The strategist also sounded optimistic about the trajectory after the index's new highs, referring to the market adage that“momentum often begets momentum.”

Turnquist noted that after reaching a new record in the past, the index generated average and median 12-month returns of 9.7% and 8.6%, respectively.“Furthermore, 74% of the 25 periods analyzed produced positive returns over the 12-month period,” he said.

On Thursday, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF and the SPDR S & P 500 ETF (SPY) climbed 0.23% and 0.40%, respectively.

The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) added 0.21%, while the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) slipped 0.40%.

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