U.S. stock futures advanced on Friday, as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices rose, following Thursday’s higher close.
Crude oil slipped while gas prices continued to climb as President Donald Trump weighs a “big decision” on potential military strikes against Iran ahead of upcoming talks with Gulf leaders regarding a postwar endgame.
The escalating Middle East tension comes alongside reports of a tanker detained by Iranian forces and warnings from former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent that “there is no military solution.”
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.94%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.69% at the last check. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 53.1% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates after its October meeting.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.14% |
| S&P 500 | 0.29% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.59% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.09% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Friday. The SPY was up 0.30% at $762.99, while the QQQ advanced 0.58% to $721.09.
Stocks In Focus
Nucor
- Nucor Corp. (NYSE:NUE) dropped 3.07% in premarket on Friday despite raising its third-quarter earnings guidance to $5.55 to $5.65 per diluted share, up from $2.63 per share in the year-ago quarter,
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NUE maintains a strong price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a moderate growth score.
BlackBerry
- BlackBerry Ltd. (NYSE:BB) was 1.76% higher following a partnership announcement between Sift, a data infrastructure platform for mission-critical hardware, and QNX, BlackBerry’s embedded software division.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that BB maintains a weak price trend in the short and medium terms but a strong trend in the long term, with a poor value score.
5E Advanced Materials
- 5E Advanced Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:FEAM) dropped 4.37% as it posted a loss of 14 cents per share for the fourth quarter, compared to market estimates of a loss of 32 cents per share.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that FEAM maintains a strong price trend in the medium and short terms, but a strong trend in the long term.
McDonald’s
- McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) was 0.41% higher as it raised its quarterly dividend from $1.86 to $1.93 per share.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MCD maintains a weak price trend in the long, medium and short terms with a poor value score.
Oklo
- Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) was 1.34% higher in premarket on Friday following House approval of a plan requiring large data centers to absorb more of their own grid infrastructure costs. The legislation boosted investor interest in dedicated energy providers; however, no nuclear firm secured new contracts as a result of the vote.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that OKLO maintains a weak price trend in the long, medium, and short terms.
Cues From Last Session
Information technology, consumer discretionary, and utilities stocks recorded the biggest gains on Thursday, while financial and consumer staples bucked the market trend to close lower.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Dow Jones | 0.61% | 51,778.04 |
| S&P 500 | 1.14% | 7,637.76 |
| Nasdaq Composite | 1.69% | 26,418.30 |
| Russell 2000 | 0.55% | 2,874.63 |
Insights From Analysts
Investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo, Tony Miano projects that heavy public and private debt issuance will drive U.S. bond yields higher and weigh on fixed-income returns, though he remains optimistic about long-term economic growth.
Miano notes that corporate borrowing to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure will ultimately boost overall productivity. He emphasizes that “investing in technology makes workers and machines more productive and, over time, promotes stronger economic growth.”
While acknowledging that “the U.S. Treasury’s current pace of borrowing is unsustainable,” Miano reassures investors that default is neither “imminent or inevitable” because corporate earnings remain resilient.
Rather than signaling market panic, rising yields reflect that “investors want to be paid more as more debt issuers—public and private—come to the marketplace.”
Because “this surge of borrowing seems unlikely to end soon, which should pressure yields higher,” Miano foresees ongoing yield pressure. To navigate this environment, he expects better stability in short-term fixed income, recommending that investors allocate new cash there while holding existing long-term bonds to maturity.
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on Friday:
- Industrial production data for August will be released by 9:15 a.m. ET.
Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets
Crude Oil WTI futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 1.69% to hover around $100.19 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar rose 1.11% to hover around $4,389.84 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.06% higher at the 100.3100 level.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 2.00% higher at $77,939.67 per coin over the last 24 hours.
Asian markets were higher on Friday, except for Australia’s ASX 200 index. Japan’s Nikkei 225, India’s Nifty 50, South Korea’s Kospi, China’s CSI 300, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices rose. European markets were lower in early trading.
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