OPENING CALL
Stock futures were edging lower Friday as the AI rally was fading and ahead of the U.S. trading debut of SK Hynix.
The South Korean chipmaker will list on the Nasdaq, with shares reportedly priced at $149 each. The move is expected to help fund the company's production facilities in South Korea.
"That is exactly the kind of story equity investors want to own into earnings season," Tickmill Group said. "Not abstract AI enthusiasm, but capital raising, capacity expansion, data center demand, and hardware bottlenecks."
Meanwhile, oil prices were inching lower this morning, with Brent crude futures falling below $76 a barrel after surging past $80 this week.
Still, they were on track for a weekly gain of around 5% as a flare-up in fighting between the U.S. and Iran has curtailed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, threatening regional supply once again.
Investors will also be watching out for Delta Air Lines' second-quarter earnings, which are scheduled to come out before the opening bell.
Stocks to watch
Applied Materials, Micron, Marvell, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices: The chip stocks fell in premarket trading ahead of SK Hynix's first day of trading.
Delta Air Lines is due to report its second-quarter results this morning.
Netflix ticked higher in premarket trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the streaming giant is exploring live TV and bundles to keep viewers hooked.
Watch For:
World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates; Canada Labour Force Survey for June
Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:
- How Charles Schwab Turbocharged Trump's Stock-Trading Frenzy
- Airlines and Hyperscalers Clamor for Turbines. Only a Few Companies Make the Parts.
- OpenAI's No. 2 Executive to Step Down in Latest Leadership Shake-Up
MARKET WRAPS
Forex:
The dollar fell as concerns about a return to full-blown conflict in the Iran war faded, sending oil prices lower and driving investors away from safe-haven assets.
The euro rose. Recent military strikes between the U.S. and Iran have boosted expectations for another interest-rate rise by the European Central Bank but the euro has limited scope to benefit, ING said.
Sterling rose to a new one-year high against the euro and remained stronger versus the dollar after reaching a near four-week high earlier in Asian trade.
Bonds:
Treasury yields were stable, as investors came to terms with a renewed bout of tensions between the U.S. and Iran after President Trump's announcement earlier this week that the ceasefire between the two countries was over.
Treasury yields and market pricing the probability of Fed tightening remain elevated
relative to pre-Iran War levels, even though crude oil prices have unwound most of the initial increases after the war began, Eurizon SLJ Capital said.
The rupture of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire and rising oil prices have helped push the 10-year Treasury yield back above 4.50%, but it is still likely to continue searching for direction, SEB said.
Energy:
In early European trading, crude futures were down slightly. Brent crude fell 0.2%, while WTI was down 0.1%.
Metals:
Spot gold was down. Gold's outlook remained positive, said GivTrade. Gold is trading under a "complex mix of safe-haven demand and interest-rate pressure."
Pepperstone said gold will likely be weighed by geopolitical tensions and elevated interest rates in the near term.
Copper
Copper prices edged higher in early trading as easing geopolitical tensions supported sentiment, but expectations for rate increases by the Fed were limiting gains, Baocheng Futures said.
Iron
Iron ore rose in early trade amid concerns over potential supply disruptions from Australia, ANZ Research said.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Volkswagen's Vast Jobs Factory Is Under Threat Like Never Before
For decades, Volkswagen's prowess in selling German-engineered cars around the world helped support a growing army of some of the auto industry's best-paid workers back home.
Now, that once-unshakeable business model-and the vast workforce it sustained-is under threat like never before.
SK Hynix to Debut on Wall Street After Biggest Share Sale by Foreign Company
South Korean chip-making giant SK Hynix is set to debut on Wall Street, after raising $26.51 billion via American depositary receipts in the largest share sale by a non-U.S. company.
Hynix will top the $25 billion raised by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2014. The ADR sale will also rank as the second-biggest U.S. stock sale on record after SpaceX's $75 billion offering last month. The ADRs are scheduled to list on Nasdaq on Friday.
easyJet Shares Jump on Rival $7.6 Billion Bid From Apollo
Shares in easyJet jumped to a four-year high after the company agreed to a $7.6 billion takeover bid from U.S. asset manager Apollo and withdrew its recommendation for an offer from Castlelake.
In morning trade, London-listed shares in the budget airline rose 13% to 665.80 pence, the highest level in over four years, and an increase of 30% year to date.
Vodafone Shares Surge After French Billionaire Xavier Niel Becomes Biggest Shareholder
Vodafone shares surged Friday after French billionaire Xavier Niel agreed to buy a 16.2% stake in the U.K. telecommunications company, becoming its largest shareholder.
Shares rose as much as 14% in early London trade.
Oil Demand Recovery Is Under Way But U.S.-Iran Escalation Clouds Outlook, IEA Says
Global oil demand is recovering after months of disruptions in the Middle East, but a flare-up in fighting between the U.S. and Iran has cast uncertainty over the outlook just as markets were bracing for a new wave of supply next year, the International Energy Agency said.
While consumption is projected to decline by 1 million barrels a day this year, the pace of contraction is easing sharply. Demand fell by 4.8 million barrels a day in the second quarter and is forecast to decline by 1.7 million barrels a day in the third quarter before returning to growth in the final three months of the year, with consumption rising by 1.2 million barrels a day.
Japan Wants GPIF to Boost Domestic Investments
Signals that the Japanese government wants more investments at home, including from its massive pension fund, lifted local government bonds and the yen.
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said that the government is considering ways to encourage investors to buy more domestic securities.
The Chip Trade Is Helping Wall Street Shake Off Latest Iran Strikes
Wall Street's latest war jitters didn't last long.
Oil prices dropped and the S&P 500 closed near a record on Thursday after President Trump signaled that Iran was open to ending the tit-for-tat fighting that erupted between the two countries this week. Shares of smaller companies and financial firms jumped, as did several of the market's most crowded artificial-intelligence plays.
Iran Hatched Fresh Plot to Kill Trump, Israel Told U.S.
Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. that it said indicated a fresh Iranian plan to kill President Trump, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that would mark an escalation in the war between Washington and Iran.
Iran for years has vowed openly to retaliate against Trump for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, who was a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in the president's first term.
Trump Wanted 20,000 Peacekeeping Troops in Gaza. He Is Starting With 10 to 20.
KIRYAT GAT, Israel-President Trump's peace plan for Gaza envisioned a 20,000-strong force of international peacekeepers to secure the war-torn Palestinian enclave and prevent the re-emergence of Hamas as a military power.
Now, with the wider Middle East stuck between war and peace, the promised International Stabilization Force for Gaza is struggling to deploy even an initial group of about 10 to 20 troops, according to a U.S. military official and other people familiar with the plans.
Ukraine's Drones Are Now Reaching Siberia and Imperiling Russian Energy Assets
Several Ukrainian drones circled over Russia's largest refinery on Monday and then, one after another, slammed into its crude distillation unit, engulfing the facility in fireballs and clouds of smoke. There was no air defense to speak of because Russian authorities had assumed that the refinery, in the Siberian city of Omsk, was too far from Ukraine to be imperiled.
The hit, which triggered Wednesday's ban on diesel exports and intensified Russia's monthlong fuel crisis, marked a major expansion in the range of Ukraine's deep strikes. Until now, they have been confined to European Russia, within some 1,000 miles of Kyiv-controlled territory. But Omsk lies nearly 1,500 miles away in a straight line, and the drones flying there had to take a longer, more circuitous route to avoid air defenses.
A Big Winner From the Iran War: Africa's Richest Man
There is a surprise winner from the Iran war: Africa's richest man.
Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote went "through hell" building a $20 billion oil refinery that was plagued by a decade of delays and cost overruns that doubled the tab for the project.
Write to priscila.barrera@wsj.com
TODAY IN CANADA
Earnings:
MTY Food Group 2Q
Economic Indicators $(ET)$:
0830 Jun Labour Force Survey
0830 May Building permits
Stocks to Watch:
BTB Real Estate Investment Trust Names Taylor Troll as Trustee
Capstone Copper Target Raised 15% to A$18.00/Share By Morgans
Cineplex Generated June Box Office Rev of C$55.8M, Representing 108% of June 2025
Fitch Revises Clarios' Outlook to Positive; Affirms IDR at 'B'
Postmedia 3Q Revenue CAD 146.7M; 3Q Operating Loss CAD 19.1M; Network Canada 3Q Loss/Shr C$0.36
Sandfire Resources Study Incorporates Updated Mineral Resource, Maiden Lowry Reserve; Continues to Assess Project's Strategic Fit in Portfolio; Updated Prefeasibility Study Released For Black Butte
Sigma Lithium Produced 35,000 Tonnes of Lithium Oxide Concentrate in 2Q, Compared With Guidance of 33,000 Tonnes
Velan 1Q Sales $57.8M; 1Q Loss/Shr 44c; 1Q Net Loss $9.44M; 1Q Sales $57.8M; 1Q Gross Margin 19.6%; 1Q Gross Profit $11.4M
VerticalScope Announces Strategic Investment in AltaML
Expected Major Events for Friday
06:00/GER: Jun CPI
06:45/FRA: Jun CPI
08:00/ITA: May Industrial Production
08:00/FRA: Jul IEA Oil Market Report
12:30/CAN: Jun Labour Force Survey
12:30/CAN: May Building permits
16:00/US: World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimates (WASDE)
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Friday
Art's Way Manufacturing Co $(ARTW)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc (AVL.T) is expected to report for 3Q.
Delta Air Lines Inc $(DAL)$ is expected to report $1.54 for 2Q.
MTY Food Group Inc (MTY.T) is expected to report $0.96 for 2Q.
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ANALYST RATINGS ACTIONS
AeroVironment Cut to Sector Perform From Outperform by RBC Capital
AIG Raised to Overweight From Neutral by Cantor Fitzgerald
American Tower REIT Raised to Outperform From Peer Perform by Wolfe Research
Bio-Techne Cut to Sector Perform From Outperform by RBC Capital
Caesars Entertainment Cut to Equal-Weight From Overweight by Barclays
Cinemark Raised to Neutral From Sell by Goldman Sachs
Correction to AT&T US Rating
Correction to T-Mobile US Rating
Ducommun Cut to Sector Perform From Outperform by RBC Capital
First Citizens Bancshares Cut to Market Perform From Outperform by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
Five Below Raised to Outperform From Neutral by Mizuho
Goldman Sachs BDC Cut to Underperform From Neutral by B of A Securities
Graco Cut to Peer Perform From Outperform by Wolfe Research
Granite Construction Cut to Sell From Neutral by Goldman Sachs
ITT Inc Raised to Outperform From Peer Perform by Wolfe Research
Kaiser Aluminum Cut to Underweight From Equal-Weight by Wells Fargo
Knight-Swift Transport Raised to Buy From Neutral by Citigroup
Mattel Cut to Sell From Neutral by Goldman Sachs
MSG Entertainment Cut to Neutral From Buy by Goldman Sachs
Old Dominion Freight Raised to Neutral From Sell by Citigroup
Packaging Corp of America Cut to Equal-Weight From Overweight by Wells Fargo
Redwood Trust Raised to Outperform From Market Perform by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
Saia Raised to Buy From Neutral by Citigroup
Salesforce Cut to Sector Weight From Overweight by Keybanc
Sarepta Therapeutics Raised to Outperform From Peer Perform by Wolfe Research
Solstice Advanced Mat Raised to Buy From Hold by Truist Securities
The Bancorp Raised to Outperform From Market Perform by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
Toast Raised to Buy From Neutral by Goldman Sachs
Tractor Supply Cut to Neutral From Outperform by Mizuho
U.S. Airlines to Show Steady Growth, Primed for Big Gains Ahead -- Earnings Preview
WW Grainger Raised to Peer Perform From Underperform by Wolfe Research
This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 10, 2026 06:01 ET (10:01 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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