S&P 500, Dow set to dip at open on Middle East stalemate

The S&P 500 and the Dow were poised to open lower on Wednesday, as a fresh Middle East flare-up pushed oil prices higher and cast doubt on a quick end to the war.

Brent crude futures rose over 2% after an Iranian missile attack damaged Kuwait's airport and the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, raising the risk of further supply disruption that could stoke broader inflation. [O/R]

"It is not in the interest of either the U.S. or Iran to go back towards fighting and bombing. Our base case scenario remains that we would be moving towards a deal; even if it's a fudge to get the Strait of Hormuz opened," Jefferies economist Mohit Kumar wrote in a note.

At 08:14 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 156 points, or 0.3%, and S&P 500 E-minis were down 6.25 points, or 0.08%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 80 points, or 0.26%.

The S&P 500 closed above 7,600 for the first time on Tuesday, as all three major indexes ended at fresh peaks.

Wall Street's record run has been underpinned by a run of corporate updates reinforcing expectations of sustained AI spending.

Marvell Technology soared 12% in premarket trading to top $280 billion in market value, extending gains a day after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the next "trillion-dollar company."

Earlier this week, Nvidia launched new chips for PCs, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise moved up its earnings target and Alphabet said it planned to raise $80 billion to fund its AI expansion.

Broadcom shares rose 2.3% ahead of the company's quarterly report due after market close. The results would be the next key test of AI-driven momentum. The stock has already risen 14% in the past four sessions.

Investors are awaiting upcoming economic data, including S&P Global's manufacturing and services surveys and the ISM services index, ahead of Friday's closely watched labor market report, which could shape expectations for monetary policy.

Money markets expect the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold for the remainder of the year, with growing odds of a 25 bps rate hike.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh pledged to follow "the best of the Fed's traditions" in a note to staff at the start of his four-year term.

In other corporate news, asset managers dropped after Switzerland's Partners Group capped withdrawals from an $8.6 billion private equity fund. KKR, Blackstone, Blue Owl and Ares Management fell between 5.3% and 6.3%.

GameStop advanced 11% after posting a rise in quarterly revenue and unveiling a $2 billion share buyback program.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to price its IPO at $135 a share, ahead of a roadshow, to raise a record $75 billion, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The offering leads a wave of private companies preparing to go public, including Anthropic and OpenAI, after a prolonged drought in large-cap listings.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shinjini Ganguli)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 5:33 AM.