Opening Comment — Thursday, July 09, 2026
DJIA: 52,348.39, down 576.76
S&P 500: 7,482.71, down 21.14
NASDAQ: 25,870.65, up 51.96
Stocks mixed following U.S.-Iran strikes
Stock futures are mixed Thursday morning as investors are closely watching the developments in the renewed escalation between the U.S. and Iran, with both countries conducting military strikes. Investors are also looking ahead to today’s economic releases including weekly initial and continuing jobless claims along with June’s existing home sales data. As of 7:17 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.1%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.4% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were mixed on Wednesday as consumer credit unexpectedly decreased in May, shrinking by $182 million, following an upward revision of April’s increase to $20.82 billion. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) July 17 Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes showed Fed officials remain divided on the future path of interest rates. The Dow was down 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%. The S&P 500 decreased 0.3% with nine of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Energy sector was the top performer, rising 1.5%, while the Materials sector was the bottom performer, falling 2.5%.
On the data front, initial jobless claims for the week ending July 4 are expected to come in at 217,000, higher than the prior week’s 215,000, while continuing claims are expected to remain stable at 1.814 million for the week ending June 27. Existing home sales are forecasted to have been at an annualized 4.20 million pace in June versus the prior month’s 4.17 million pace.
Across the pond, European stocks are mostly higher in mid-day trading as Germany’s trade surplus widened more than expected in May, as exports unexpectedly increased, and imports declined more than projected.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed as China’s June Producer Price Index accelerated to 4.1% year-over-year (YOY), matching expectations, alongside softer-than-projected headline and core Consumer Price Index prints, with both rising 1.0% YOY. Meanwhile, Japan’s preliminary machine tool orders increased 52.8% YOY in June.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is little changed ahead of today’s U.S. jobless claims data.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.8% higher at $74.11/barrel.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.6% higher at $4,103.04/ounce.