Key Takeaways

• Futures fall: Dow futures dropped 156 points (-0.3%), S&P 500 futures dipped 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.6%.
• Khamenei blocks uranium transfer: Iran’s Supreme Leader reportedly issued a directive barring the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium from leaving Iran.
• Trump’s Israeli assurance: The president had promised Israel that Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile would leave the country under any peace deal.
• “Final stages” optimism fades: Trump’s earlier peace remarks are overshadowed by the uranium bombshell.
• Nasty warning returns: Trump threatened “things that are a little bit nasty” if no deal is reached.
• Iran “ready to respond”: Tehran said it is reviewing Washington’s position but is prepared to retaliate to any strikes.
• Bond yields climb again: A renewed rise in yields — driven by Iran war inflation fears — is pressuring equities.
• Brent holds above $105: Crude bounced, remaining well above pre-war levels of $70.
• Nvidia record quarter: Sales spiked 85% to $81.6 billion; net income tripled to $58.3 billion.
• CEO Huang’s “agentic AI” era: Demand has turned “parabolic,” the CEO declared.
• Nvidia shares muted: A modest miss in data center computing revenue offset by networking performance dampened enthusiasm.
• OpenAI IPO eyed: ChatGPT maker is reportedly targeting a September listing.
• SpaceX mega-IPO filed: Elon Musk’s SpaceX — now merged with xAI — filed for what could be the largest IPO on record.
• Intuit crashes 14%: The TurboTax maker cut its annual revenue forecast and said it would slash 17% of its full-time workforce.
• Walmart falls: Shares dropped after the retail giant kept its full-year targets unchanged despite a Q1 beat.
• PMI data ahead: May’s preliminary purchasing managers’ index could offer a fresh read on the Iran war’s impact on U.S. business activity.

U.S. stock futures faltered on Thursday, as investors cautiously eyed reports of a hardening Iranian stance on peace talks and parsed through fresh earnings from artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia.

By 06:46 ET (10:46 GMT), the Dow futures contract had fallen by 156 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 futures had dipped by 31 points, or 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had slid by 161 points, or 0.6%. The contracts hovered around both sides of the flatline prior to the opening bell.

Putting pressure on stocks was a renewed climb in U.S. government debt yields — which tend to move inversely to bond prices — reflecting concerns that a war-fueled energy shock could cause a spike in inflation and lead many central banks to raise interest rates. Brent crude futures bounced, keeping the global oil benchmark above $105 a barrel and well above pre-war levels of around $70 a barrel.

Khamenei’s Uranium Bombshell

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a directive that the country’s almost weapons-grade uranium should not be shipped abroad, Reuters reported, citing two senior Iranian sources. The news service added that U.S. President Donald Trump had assured allies in Israel that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium would leave the country under any peace deal.

A fragile ceasefire has taken hold since the start of the joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran in late February, with efforts aimed at resolving the impasse so far proving unsuccessful.

Trump said the U.S. was in the “final stages” of a potential draft peace agreement, although he raised the specter of re-escalation, warning that “we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty” should a deal not be reached.

Iran, for its part, said it is reviewing Washington’s most recent position on concluding the conflict, but is ready to respond to more strikes with its own crushing barrage.

Investors are particularly watching for any indications that a deal could be made to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a vital waterway off Iran’s southern coast that has been all but closed to tanker traffic since the start of the war in late February. Shipping data in media reports earlier this week indicated that some vessels have been able to traverse the conduit in recent days.

Nvidia in Focus

Beyond the Iran war, results from Nvidia were among a slew of major tech-sector headlines.

April quarter sales at the company — whose products have made it a bellwether for the state of the AI boom — spiked by 85% from a year ago to $81.6 billion, outpacing analysts’ expectations.

Net income stood at $58.3 billion, over three times greater than the previous year and also well above Wall Street forecasts. Nvidia has been a major beneficiary of a spike in expenditures by big-name tech players keen on building out the infrastructure needed to underpin cutting-edge AI models.

“Another huge quarterly profit announced by chipmaker Nvidia […] provided solid evidence that Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence spending spree is still gathering steam,” analysts at Phillip Capital said.

CEO Jensen Huang touted the arrival of the “era of agentic AI,” adding that this trend toward models that can independently carry out tasks on behalf of users had helped demand turn “parabolic.”

Yet shares of Nvidia were muted in premarket trading, as analysts flagged that a modest miss on revenue from its data center computing business was offset by robust data center networking performance.

IPO Frenzy Builds

Intensifying the focus on the AI narrative was a Wall Street Journal report that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is looking to go public as early as September. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX — which recently merged with his AI startup xAI — filed for what could be the largest initial public offering on record later this year.

Earnings and Data Movers

Software name Intuit sank by more than 14% after the firm lowered its annual revenue forecast for its TurboTax filing assistant and said it would slash around 17% of its full-time staff.

Shares of Walmart also fell after the big-box retail giant kept its full-year financial targets unchanged despite a quarterly results beat.

A preliminary purchasing managers’ index for May from S&P Global could offer a fresh glimpse into the impact of the Iran war on American business activity.