{"id":127541,"date":"2026-05-22T15:24:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=127541"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:24:08","slug":"wall-street-futures-edge-higher-as-iran-talks-teeter-take-two-soars-on-gta-vi-countdown-ibm-quantum-wins-2b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wall-street-futures-edge-higher-as-iran-talks-teeter-take-two-soars-on-gta-vi-countdown-ibm-quantum-wins-2b\/05\/22\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall Street Futures Edge Higher as Iran Talks Teeter: Take-Two Soars on GTA VI Countdown, IBM Quantum Wins $2B"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Futures nudge up:<\/strong> Dow futures rose 96 points (+0.2%), S&amp;P 500 futures inched up 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were mostly unchanged.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Iran narrative &#8220;hopeful but uncertain&#8221;:<\/strong> Vital Knowledge says the White House is &#8220;extremely eager to avoid escalation&#8221; but &#8220;large differences still need to be ironed out.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pakistan diplomacy continues:<\/strong> Iran&#8217;s foreign minister met Pakistan&#8217;s interior minister to bridge gaps in peace proposals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rubio&#8217;s measured optimism:<\/strong> The U.S. Secretary of State said talks show &#8220;good signs&#8221; but flagged he didn&#8217;t want to be &#8220;overly optimistic.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gaps narrowing:<\/strong> A senior Iranian official told Reuters differences in negotiations have shrunk.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hormuz toll rejected:<\/strong> Trump opposes Iran and Oman&#8217;s plan to establish a toll system for Hormuz passage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strait still shut:<\/strong> Tanker traffic through Hormuz remains all but halted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Brent climbs:<\/strong> Oil rose 2.6% to $105.24 per barrel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Take-Two explodes:<\/strong> Shares spiked after quarterly net bookings beat and GTA VI&#8217;s November 19 launch was reaffirmed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>GTA VI record expected:<\/strong> CEO Strauss Zelnick said the game will &#8220;establish new record levels of operating performance&#8221; in fiscal 2027.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Workday soars:<\/strong> Q1 results topped expectations with upbeat guidance despite AI competition pressures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Zoom rallies 8%:<\/strong> Strong earnings and guidance lifted the communications platform.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>IBM quantum wins:<\/strong> U.S. government awarded $2 billion to IBM and others to develop quantum wafer facilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Estee Lauder jumps:<\/strong> Shares gained after the cosmetics giant and Spain&#8217;s Puig terminated merger talks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. stock futures hovered broadly above the flatline on Friday, while oil prices ticked higher, as investors cautiously eyed media reports around talks to end the ongoing war in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT), the Dow futures contract had risen by 96 points, or 0.2%, S&amp;P 500 futures had inched up by 7 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were mostly unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main averages on Wall Street rose in the prior session, but saw some early pressure, weighed down by a report that Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader had issued a directive to not allow enriched uranium to leave the country \u2014 denting hopes for an immediate detente with the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Iran Diplomacy Inches Forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran&#8217;s foreign minister has met with the interior minister of Pakistan, with discussions focused on bridging key divides between the U.S. and Tehran over peace proposals, Iranian media reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gathering comes two days after Pakistan presented Iran with the latest U.S. message in the negotiations, Reuters reported, citing the semi-official Tasnim and ISNA news agencies. Islamabad has frequently acted as a mediator between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to ISNA, Pakistan&#8217;s Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi is attempting to forge a framework for ending the war and resolving differences between both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said discussions have shown &#8220;good signs&#8221; of progress, although he flagged that he did not want to be &#8220;overly optimistic&#8221; and was waiting to &#8220;see what happens over the next few days.&#8221; Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official quoted by Reuters said that gaps in negotiations have narrowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Washington and Iran are now locked in a protracted ceasefire that has lasted longer than the initial phase of bombardments which began in late February. The U.S. and Israel launched a joint assault on Iran, sparking a wave of attacks that spread to other areas of the Middle East, including major energy-producing Gulf nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Questions are also swirling around the status of the Strait of Hormuz, with President Donald Trump opposing efforts by Iran and Oman to establish a toll system for traversing the narrow conduit through which roughly a fifth of the world&#8217;s oil transits. Crucially, the strait remains all but closed to tanker traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brent crude prices, the global oil benchmark, were last higher by 2.6% at $105.24 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Take-Two Surges on GTA VI Countdown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In individual stocks, shares of Take-Two Interactive Software spiked in premarket U.S. trading after the group reported quarterly net bookings that beat expectations and reaffirmed a November 19 launch date for its highly anticipated video game &#8220;Grand Theft Auto VI.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take-Two develops and publishes a wide variety of games across its Rockstar Games, 2K, and Zynga labels. Its most popular title is Rockstar&#8217;s Grand Theft Auto series, with the fifth edition having sold over 225 million units since its 2013 launch \u2014 making it the second-highest selling video game of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CEO Strauss Zelnick said &#8220;Grand Theft Auto VI&#8221; would &#8220;establish new record levels of operating performance&#8221; for Take-Two in fiscal 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tech and Quantum Movers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Shares of Workday soared on first-quarter results that topped expectations. The company provided guidance that was viewed as upbeat during a period when software stocks have broadly been pressured by competition from cutting-edge AI models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zoom Communications climbed about 8% after posting strong earnings and guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shares of companies with quantum computing activities also rose, extending a rally from the prior session sparked by a report that the U.S. government had awarded $2 billion to IBM and other firms to spur development of quantum wafer facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Separately, Estee Lauder&#8217;s shares jumped after the U.S. cosmetics giant and Spanish beauty brand Puig announced they had terminated discussions over a possible tie-up that would have created one of the world&#8217;s biggest beauty companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Futures nudge up: Dow futures rose 96 points (+0.2%), S&amp;P 500 futures inched up 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were mostly unchanged. Iran narrative &#8220;hopeful but uncertain&#8221;: Vital Knowledge says the White House is &#8220;extremely eager to avoid escalation&#8221; but &#8220;large differences still need to be ironed out.&#8221; Pakistan diplomacy continues: Iran&#8217;s foreign &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":127251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,6827,49,39,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-commodities-news","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-global-stock-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127542,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127541\/revisions\/127542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}