US Stock Futures Fall, Chip Stocks Remain Under Pressure, Market Focuses on US-Iran Situation and Oil Price Volatility

BlockBeats News, May 19th

On May 19th, the pre-market trading of the three major U.S. stock index futures was down, with Nasdaq futures falling by 0.7%, S&P 500 futures down by 0.4%, and Dow futures dropping by 77 points. The market continued to focus on the developments in the US-Iran situation and the impact of the tech stock pullback on the overall market.

U.S. President Trump stated that the U.S. has canceled its planned military strike against Iran scheduled for Tuesday after leaders from the Middle East countries requested a "pause in action." In response, international oil prices fell on Tuesday, with WTI crude oil dropping to $108.21 per barrel and Brent crude falling to $110.96 per barrel.

However, chip stocks continued to be under pressure, with Micron, Broadcom, and NVIDIA all falling by over 1%, and Seagate dropping by nearly 2%. Earlier, tech stocks led the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to continuously hit record highs, but recently, the market has shown signs of profit-taking from these high levels.

Kevin Gordon, Head of Schwab's Macro Strategy, stated that the current market positioning and sentiment are already "extreme," and it may be difficult to see another rapid rally like the one since the March low. Analysts say that investors are still waiting for further developments in the Middle East situation and the energy market.