TradingKey - On Wednesday, September 23, US Eastern Time, futures on the three major US stock indices rose slightly in pre-market trading. Diplomatic mediation in the Middle East and the restoration of a key Saudi oil pipeline kept international oil prices below $100 per barrel, temporarily easing energy inflation concerns. Meanwhile, investors awaited a summit between US and Chinese leaders and the preliminary US September PMI reading, while a stronger US dollar and the risk of further Federal Reserve rate hikes continued to cap market gains.
As of press time, Dow futures were down 0.18%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.28%.
Source: Investing
In commodities, international oil prices continued to fluctuate around Middle East news. WTI (USOIL) crude traded near $90.5, while Brent crude held near $100.1. Saudi Arabia restored partial operations of its East-West pipeline, which, along with expectations of progress in US-Iran negotiations, eased market concerns over further disruptions to Middle East crude oil supplies. The pipeline is a key export route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
Gold (XAUUSD) fell about 1.3%, trading near $4,302. The US Dollar Index rose to a two-month high, while rising market expectations of another Fed rate hike diminished the appeal of non-yielding assets. The US 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 4.96%, also pressuring precious metals. Reuters reported that traders currently see a slightly higher than 50% chance of a Fed rate hike in October.
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) hovered near $86,000, briefly breaking above $87,000 intraday. Recent improvements in spot Bitcoin ETF inflows provided support for the price rebound, but a stronger US dollar and US Treasury yields continued to limit further upside.
Market Moves
IonQ (IONQ) surged over 11% in pre-market trading. The company announced new progress in quantum error correction technology, having successfully developed and validated an end-to-end real-time quantum error correction decoder that can run on a single standard CPU. Testing covered a simulated 408 logical qubits and over 31.5 million quantum operations, with an additional processing overhead of only about 0.02%. The technology is viewed as an important advancement in lowering real-time error correction costs for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Boosted by the news, the quantum computing sector broadly advanced.
The quantum computing sector rose across the board. Rigetti Computing (RGTI) gained over 5% in pre-market trading, D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) rose about 5%, and Quantum Computing (QUBT) also posted notable gains. Aside from IonQ's technological breakthrough, the Quantum World Congress held from September 23 to 25 served as a short-term catalyst, as investors focused on the latest progress in quantum computing commercialization, government procurement, and error correction technology.
Microsoft (MSFT) rose about 0.8% in pre-market trading. BNP Paribas analysts remained bullish on the company's outlook following discussions with Microsoft's investor relations team and maintained a $549 price target. Analysts believe the recent re-acceleration of Azure's growth to over 40% was mainly driven by compute expansion and efficiency improvements, while higher future contract renewal prices could provide a further growth driver for the cloud business.
Meta Platforms (META) rose slightly in pre-market trading. The market continues to focus on its AI agent Muse. Since its launch on September 8, Muse's downloads have grown rapidly, surpassing 2.5 million downloads in about two weeks and topping US app store charts. Meta's stock price has gained over 20% since Muse's release, adding more than $200 billion in market value. CEO Mark Zuckerberg will speak at a company event on Wednesday, with the market focusing on further details regarding Muse's commercialization, next-generation AI models, and Meta's overall AI strategy.
Market News
Diplomatic engagements between the U.S. and Iran have made progress. Trump stated that his team held an approximately three-hour meeting with Iranian representatives on Tuesday to discuss topics including ending the Middle East conflict and restoring regional energy transport, describing the talks as "productive." Neither side has announced a formal agreement yet, and U.S. and Iranian representatives may continue engagement during the UN General Assembly.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to arrive in Washington today. Trump and Xi are expected to hold a formal meeting on Thursday, with topics including U.S.-China trade truce arrangements, artificial intelligence regulation, rare earth supplies, and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Executives from several U.S. technology and manufacturing companies will also attend related events.
The OECD released its latest economic outlook. The OECD projects global economic growth of 2.9% in 2026 and 3.0% in 2027, adding that the impact of Middle East energy supply shocks on the global economy has been lower than previously feared, though persistent inflationary pressures and geopolitical uncertainties continue to pose risks to the near-term outlook. Global inflationary pressures are expected to peak in the fourth quarter of 2026.
China is reportedly reviewing state-owned data centers' use of Broadcom equipment. According to the Financial Times, Chinese authorities are auditing Broadcom (AVGO) switches used in data centers of state-owned enterprises, with Broadcom equipment accounting for up to 90% at some institutions. The investigation could provide a basis for subsequently reducing reliance on foreign networking chips.
Important Data/Events Preview
At 9:45 ET on September 23, the U.S. preliminary S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMIs for September will be released. The market expects the Manufacturing PMI to fall from 53.9 to 53.4 and the Services PMI to drop from 56.5 to 56.0.
At 10:05 ET on September 23, Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr speaks on the U.S. economic outlook and housing issues.
At 10:30 ET on September 23, the U.S. Energy Information Administration releases weekly crude oil inventory data.
At 19:00 ET on September 23, Meta Connect 2026 holds its opening keynote.
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