U.S. stock futures sought direction on Monday, as investors prepared for an extremely busy trading week that will feature everything from geopolitical tensions to earnings from artificial intelligence hyperscalers.
At 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT), Dow futures slipped 0.2%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1% each.
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The main averages were mixed to end the prior week. The benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both climbed, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average declined.
Buoying stocks on Friday were hopes that the U.S. and Iran would once again hold talks to end their roughly two-month war and unblock the Strait of Hormuz.
But, over the weekend, Trump called off sending U.S. negotiators to Pakistan for renewed talks with Iran, signaling that the prolonged closure to the strait -- a conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil -- will drag on. Trump said Tehran can "call me" because Washington holds "all the cards."
Iran reportedly offers U.S. new proposal Iran is offering to drop its effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz without addressing its nuclear ambitions, media reports said on Monday.
Citing two regional officials with knowledge of the situation, the Associated Press reported that Iran is also looking for the U.S. to end its blockade of the country’s ports. The proposal was passed on to the U.S. by Pakistan, a frequent mediator between Washington and Tehran during the conflict, the AP said.
However, it was not certain if the offer would be accepted by U.S. President Donald Trump. Speaking on Sunday, Trump said Iran could call him if Tehran wants to discuss an end to their months-long war, stressing that Washington holds "all the cards" in the negotiations.
"If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us,” Trump told Fox News Channel on Sunday.
Axios was the first to report on Iran’s proposal.
Yet Washington and Tehran have made little progress towards organizing more peace talks, with the U.S. naval blockade and Tehran’s continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz being two key points of contention.
Verizon reports amid earnings frenzy Verizon shares rose after the telecommunications group lifted its annual profit forecast. The company also logged unexpected wireless subscriber additions in the first quarter, thanks in part to bundled plans and revamped promotions.
Over the rest of the week, some 35% of the companies in the benchmark S&P 500 are set to report.
"Q1 reporting season has been solid thus far, with the S&P set for a sixth straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth, while enthusiasm towards the tech sector has also made a notable resurgence," said Michael Brown, Senior Research Strategist at Pepperstone, in a note.
That optimism in tech will be in particularly sharp focus when returns are unveiled from a string of mega-cap companies which have been pouring huge sums of cash into building out their artificial intelligence capabilities, including Google-owner Alphabet, software player Microsoft, and Instagram-parent Meta.
