U.S. stock futures edged mildly higher in early Friday trading as investors weighed a tentative 60-day U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension proposal that has yet to receive final approval from President Donald Trump.
Reports indicate that Iran has agreed to certain terms, including clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz to guarantee unrestricted shipping, though Trump is reportedly still mulling a final decision.
As of 4:00 a.m. ET on Friday, S&P 500 and Dow futures were each 0.1% higher, Nasdaq futures were flat, and Russell 2000 futures were down 0.1%.
The muted futures activity followed a strong Thursday session in which the S&P 500 closed at a fresh all-time high, extending recent momentum across U.S. equity markets.
Retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) remained in “bullish” territory, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, sat at a cautious “neutral,” according to data from Stocktwits.
Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) was the dominant market story, with shares soaring approximately 40% in early premarket trade after the company posted a massive first-quarter earnings beat driven by explosive growth in its AI-optimized server business, which accounted for over a third of total sales.
Shares of competitors Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) and SuperMicro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI), as well as partner ServiceNow (NASDAQ: NOW), moved higher in sympathy trade following Dell’s blowout report.
Mizuho raised its price target on Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) to $1,150 and named it its top sector pick, while D.A. Davidson went further, lifting its target to $1,500.
“Big Short” investor Michael Burry named Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) the most promising player in the productivity and cybersecurity landscape in his latest Substack post, saying that Adobe “remains undervalued despite fears AI could disrupt its creative software business.”
The space sector faced turbulence on Friday, with AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) leading declines with an 11% premarket drop, while Redwire, Intuitive Machines, and Rocket Lab slid between 2% and 5%.
The sector sell-off followed a Bloomberg report revealing that SpaceX’s upcoming June IPO is targeting a valuation of $1.8 trillion, down from earlier expectations of $2 trillion, while Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin New Glenn rocket suffered an explosion during a static-fire test.
Regulatory filings revealed that GameStop (NYSE: GME), steered by CEO Ryan Cohen, significantly increased its economic exposure in eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to 7.78% from 6.55% just one week prior.
Lucid (NASDAQ: LCID) recalled more than 2,000 vehicles over drive power concerns, while Chrysler and Honda each announced separate vehicle recalls through the NHTSA.
Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of publication included BlackBerry, UiPath, Boost Run Inc, and SoFi Technologies.
On the economic front, investors were tracking the release of U.S. trade balance data and Chicago PMI figures, alongside scheduled Fed speeches from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman, and Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson.
On the earnings front, quarterly results from Buckle, Genesco Inc, and Elmet Group were among the reports due Friday.
