Markets
The 7am Briefing: Tech futures slip as Asia's chip selloff and $100 oil test Monday's rebound
Nasdaq futures are lower after a Kospi-led slide in chipmakers, crude jumps on a new Iranian threat, GM posts a strong quarter, and housing starts lead a light data day.
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1. Futures are split after Monday's tech bounce. As of 6:13 a.m. ET, Benzinga reported Dow futures up 0.19%, S&P 500 futures down 0.05% and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.43%. The Nasdaq Composite had gained about 1.1% on Monday, but that rally has not carried through the overnight session, where chip and AI-infrastructure names came under fresh pressure.
2. Asia's chip trade cracked again. South Korea's Kospi was down 2.36% at 5,631.95 in late-morning Seoul trading after touching 5,493.24, according to Invezz, as foreign funds sold a net 605.8 billion won of shares by mid-morning. SK Hynix fell 3.6% and Samsung Electronics 1.5%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was off about 0.6% near 64,512 at the midday break, with SoftBank Group down about 3.3%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped about 1%. In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 futures were down 0.71% as political unrest in France weighed on sentiment.
3. Oil is climbing and yields stay above 5%. WTI crude rose 2.27% to about $100.78 a barrel in early New York trading after a spokesperson for Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened undersea communication cables in the Strait of Hormuz, Benzinga reported. Brent is hovering near $110. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 5.11% and the 2-year at 4.76%. The dollar index slipped 0.20% to about 101.77, and spot gold fell 0.66% to around $4,113 an ounce.
4. GM sets the tone for a heavy earnings morning. General Motors reported third-quarter revenue of $50.0 billion and adjusted earnings of $3.70 a share, raised its 2026 adjusted automotive free cash flow outlook to $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion from $9.5 billion to $11.5 billion, and approved a new $20 billion buyback with no expiration date. GE Aerospace, RTX and 3M are also on the pre-market slate. Steel Dynamics was down 6.43% in pre-market trading after its results, and Netflix reports after the close, with analysts looking for earnings of $0.82 a share on $12.88 billion in revenue, per Benzinga.
5. Housing data headline a quiet calendar. September housing starts are due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with economists forecasting an annualized 1.30 million against 1.275 million previously, according to Investing.com, and pending home sales follow at 10:00 a.m. ET. Fed officials are in their pre-meeting blackout, so no policy remarks are expected; CME FedWatch puts the odds of a hold at the October meeting at 82.8%.