U.S. Stock Futures Rise, Oil Falls as U.S. Shifts Toward Diplomacy with Iran

By Dow Jones Newswires Staff

U.S. stock futures rose and oil prices fell in early European trade. Markets responded to the latest U.S. pivot toward diplomacy, as President Trump said he had canceled planned strikes on Iran and that peace talks would resume Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Tehran indicated progress in talks with Oman over a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Oil pared some of its earlier losses as Iran's foreign affairs spokesperson said the country wasn't currently in talks with the U.S.

The yen strengthened against the dollar after the U.S. and Japan confirmed a coordinated currency intervention.

U.S. stocks were on track to extend Friday's rally, with broad gains across chip stocks and hyperscalers in after-hours, while Bristol Myers Squibb rose 2% in after-hours trade following reports the group is in merger talks with AstraZeneca. Palantir Technologies will report after the closing bell, before SpaceX's first earnings as a public company Tuesday.

U.S. jobs data will be in focus over the week ahead, with investors watching to see if American labor market strength holds. Job openings data Tuesday and ADP employment survey Wednesday build up to Friday's employment report for July.

--Brent crude fell 5% to $83.55 a barrel, while WTI crude dropped 6.1% to $79.48. Both contracts surged more than 20% in July after the U.S. and Iran resumed attacks and Houthi rebels threatened shipping through the Red Sea. Trump, however, said in a social-media post on Saturday that "the perimeters of a deal" that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz had been hammered out. Meanwhile, key members of OPEC+ said they will raise output by about 188,000 barrels a day in September, a sixth straight monthly increase that would complete the phased unwinding of 1.65 million barrels a day of voluntary supply cuts originally agreed in 2023.

--In the U.S., futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%. Nasdaq futures rose by 0.6%.

--Stocks in Asia were mixed as Japan's Nikkei 225 index declined 0.9%, whereas Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.4%. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite declined 0.6%. Alibaba Group shares jumped 6.8% in Hong Kong after it released its latest artificial-intelligence model. South Korea's Kospi dropped 5.1%. Korea Exchange briefly suspended trading on tech-heavy Kosdaq index after it jumped more than 6%.

--European indexes mostly rose at the open. Falling oil prices buoyed energy-intensive industrials, while software stocks rallied. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 gains 0.4%. Germany's DAX jumped 1.1%, with software giant SAP adding 2.7% while autos rally--Mercedes-Benz Group gained 2%. In Paris, Capgemini and Airbus rose 3.3% and 2.7%, respectively, pushing the CAC 40 up 0.9%. London's FTSE 100 was flat. AstraZeneca--the second-largest company in the index--tumbled 6.5% as investors react negatively to a report that the pharmaceutical giant is in merger talks with U.S. peer Bristol Myers Squibb. Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.7%, while the Spanish IBEX added 0.8%. The AEX was flat in Amsterdam.

--The dollar fell, staying near a seven-week low reached overnight. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both confirmed joint interventions to support the yen last week. The DXY dollar index fell 0.2% to 99.739 after reaching a low of 99.418 overnight. The dollar fell 0.6% to 156.60 yen after hitting a three-month low of 155.21 overnight.

--U.S. Treasury yields slid in Asian trade as oil prices fell. The 10-year yield was down 5.3 basis points to 4.690%, while the 30-year yield was down 4 basis points to 5.235%.

--Eurozone government bond yields fell. The 10-year German Bund yield fell 4.7 basis points to 3.155%.

--Bitcoin fell on concerns about an ongoing hack of a popular bitcoin storage device. Canada-based Coinkite Inc. has urged users of its Coldcard digital wallets to move their bitcoin after security researchers said a software flaw might have allowed attackers to steal about $70 million worth of the cryptocurrency in less than an hour. Meanwhile, bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded outflows on Friday. Bitcoin fell 1.3% to $62,591.

--In early European trading, New York gold futures were up 0.2% to $4,113.90 a troy ounce.

Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 03, 2026 04:31 ET (08:31 GMT)