Dow, S&P 500 Futures Decline Amid Rising Oil Prices As Iran War Escalates: MU, ORCL, INTC, BE Stocks In Focus

• Oil prices have continued to soar amid the tensions, with Brent crude prices hitting a six-week high on Monday.
• Meanwhile, Canada is set to impose retaliatory tariffs ranging from 15% to 50% on a variety of imports from the U.S. starting Tuesday. 
• Markets are also watching for any cues from the Federal Reserve, which is slated to hold a monetary policy meeting next week. 

U.S. stock futures were trading mixed in the overnight session late Monday, with the Dow and S & P 500 trending lower ahead of the shortened week as tensions between the U.S. and Iran continued to escalate over the weekend. 

Dow futures fell 0.57%, and the S & P 500 declined 0.03%, while the Nasdaq-100 gained 0.49% at 10:00 PM EDT.  

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 ended the session 0.51% and 0.38% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite also lost about 0.29% at close.

Last week, the S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended marginally higher, while the Dow snapped its gains from the previous week to end 0.27% lower. 

Key US Market Drivers

As the second-quarter earnings season draws to a close, geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran are back in focus as markets contend with rising oil prices and their impact on stock markets. 

The U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, while Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded by striking three tankers and three U.S.-linked vessels in other areas.

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a post on X last week that if Iran shoots at U.S. ships,“we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers.” He added that“Iran's oil tanker fleet is defenseless - Iran has no navy or air force. Our planes, ships & subs can strike them all, in @CENTCOM & @USPACOM.”

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf responded in a post on X on Monday,“Strike our assets and you get struck. We've already proven it. Ask the bases that are no longer viable.”

Oil prices have continued to soar amid the tensions, with Brent crude prices hitting a six-week high on Monday. 

“This appears to be a major escalation and tensions have once again ratcheted higher,” David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, reportedly told CNBC. 

At the time of writing, Brent crude futures expiring in November were up about 0.08% to trade at $97.08 a barrel, while WTI crude futures expiring in October were trading at $92.41 per barrel, up more than 1%.

Meanwhile, a tariff war between the U.S. and Canada is also impacting markets. Canada is set to impose retaliatory tariffs ranging from 15% to 50% on a variety of imports from the U.S. starting Tuesday. 

The tariffs come“as a result of the United States' decision to impose a 50% tariff on $27.6bn of Canadian goods effective August 22”, the Canadian government said in a statement, adding that the levies“will focus on sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics, that are most impacted by U.S. tariffs.”

Meanwhile, markets are also watching for any cues from the Federal Reserve, which is slated to hold a monetary policy meeting next week. Traders are pricing in a 58.4% chance of a rate hike by a quarter-percentage point, according to data from the CME FedWatch tool.

However, James Thorne, PhD Economist and Chief Market Strategist at Wellington-Altus, believes that the Fed will not raise rates.“Contentious thesis. The Fed will not raise rates in September. When the Fed does decide to move on rates it will be to cut,” he said in a post on X. 

“An oil-price shock is not an inflationary boom. It is a tax on consumers and businesses, a negative supply shock that erodes real incomes, compresses demand, and slows growth. Hiking rates into that kind of shock is not prudent inflation fighting. It is economic malpractice. Look under the hood!” he added in a separate post. 

The next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is scheduled for Sept. 15–16, after which the central bank will announce its interest rate decision. 

Trending Stocks To Watch 

Micron Technology Inc. (MU): Shares of the American chipmaker were up nearly 3% in the overnight session late Monday amid an AI memory boom as the stock has crossed the $1,000 level for the first time since mid August. 

Oracle Corp. (ORCL): Shares of the company are on the retail radar amid a jump of more than 3% overnight ahead of its first quarter (Q1) results expected later this week. 

Intel Corp. (INTC): Shares of the company were up nearly 4% in the overnight session amid a boost in the AI sector during the Labor Day weekend. 

Bloom Energy Corp. (BE): Shares of the fuel cell energy company surged more than 6% in the overnight session amid optimism following its inclusion in the S & P 500 index, with the stock set to join the index from Sept. 21. 

Other Market Trends 

Among ETFs tracking benchmark indexes, the SPDR S & P 500 ETF (SPY) and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) were trending lower at the time of writing, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was gaining. 

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was trading at 4.774% at the time of writing, while the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield was trading at 5.23%.

The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) was up 0.23% amid 'bearish' sentiment.

Asian markets were trading mixed at the open on Tuesday. South Korea's KOSPI, China's SSE Composite, and Japan's Nikkei 225 were edging higher at the time of writing, while Australian stocks were trading in the red. 

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