Editor’s Note: The ETFs tracking benchmark indices, lede and the headline were updated in the story.
U.S. stock futures were lower on Wednesday, as the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped following Tuesday’s lower close.
Brent crude surged toward $100 per barrel following military exchanges in the Middle East. Escalating supply disruption fears intensified after CENTCOM destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in response to attacks on U.S. naval vessels and Houthi strikes targeted Saudi energy facilities.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the U.S. “can’t pause” its artificial intelligence race with China, stressing that “if they were to pull ahead of us on AI, then nothing else matters.” However, while defending the infrastructure buildout, Bessent gave tech companies a “D-minus” for their community outreach, cautioning that a growing local backlash threatens the nation’s technological edge.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.8%, and the two-year bond was at 4.4%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 60.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates at its September meeting.
