U.S. equity futures traded little changed on Wednesday as investors balanced mounting inflation concerns tied to the Iran conflict with anticipation surrounding quarterly results from NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), which are expected to offer fresh signals on the health of the artificial intelligence sector.
At 03:32 ET, Dow Jones futures were up 27 points, or 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures climbed 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.4%. Wall Street’s major indices had closed lower on Tuesday as a sharp rise in government bond yields fuelled concerns that the Iran war could reignite inflation globally and pressure central banks into further rate increases. The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since the global financial crisis nearly twenty years ago.
Trump says Iran conflict may end “very quickly”
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, investors continue to hope that diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Tehran could eventually bring the conflict to an end after more than two months of fighting.
U.S. President Donald Trump told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Iran war could end “very quickly.” Earlier this week, Trump said he had delayed additional planned strikes against Iran following requests from three Gulf nations.
Vice President JD Vance also expressed optimism, saying Tehran appeared willing to pursue a deal.
Meanwhile, shipping data cited by Reuters showed that two Chinese-flagged oil supertankers, along with the South Korean tanker Universal Winner, exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, raising hopes that traffic through the strategically important waterway may gradually resume more normally. Oil prices moved lower on expectations that supply disruptions could ease, although Brent crude remains significantly above levels seen before the outbreak of the conflict.
Nvidia earnings expected to test AI market optimism
Away from geopolitical developments, market attention remains firmly fixed on Nvidia’s quarterly earnings release scheduled after the close of Wall Street trading.
Nvidia has become one of the most closely watched companies in global markets due to its central role in powering artificial intelligence infrastructure. Major technology firms continue committing billions of dollars toward AI-related data centre expansion, leaving expectations for Nvidia’s performance exceptionally high.
Analysts at Vital Knowledge said:
“[S]entiment is bullish around Nvidia given continued strength in overall data center capex spending, the dominance of its core data center GPU franchise, the company’s growing networking footprint, and recent product launches (Groq and Vera) aimed at fending off competition,”.
Still, some concerns remain around increasing competition from chips developed by Google LLC and Amazon.com, Inc., as well as questions over how sustainable the current pace of AI spending will prove to be amid rising memory chip costs.
Markets monitor possible SpaceX IPO filing
Investor attention is also turning toward a potentially historic stock market listing for SpaceX, the aerospace group founded by Elon Musk.
According to reports, SpaceX is considering a June 12 market debut in what could become the largest IPO ever completed. Analysts at Vital Knowledge suggested the company’s prospectus could be released as soon as Wednesday, potentially giving investors deeper insight into SpaceX’s operations and ownership structure.
Federal Reserve minutes due later today
Later in the session, investors will also analyse minutes from the Federal Reserve’s April meeting, which may provide further clues about the policy challenges facing incoming Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh.
At that meeting, Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged but expressed concern over the inflationary consequences of the Iran conflict. Policymakers were also divided over whether to continue signalling possible future rate cuts.
Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated last month that he intends to remain on the Federal Reserve Board through early 2028, citing “my concern […] about the series of legal attacks on the Fed, which threaten our ability to conduct monetary policy without considering political factors.”
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