Market Overview
U.S. stock futures edged higher on Wednesday as optimism grew around a possible resolution to the Middle East conflict. By 03:09 ET (07:09 GMT) Dow futures rose 156 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 futures climbed 29 points (0.4%), and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 91 points (0.3%). Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be signed soon, while Qatar’s negotiator offered upbeat comments, lifting sentiment. Oil prices slipped, with Brent crude futures trading 0.8% higher at $80.01 a barrel after briefly falling below $79. U.S. Treasury yields fell, though the rally cooled after Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid warned that achieving the 2% inflation target would require tighter policy.
SpaceX Earnings
SpaceX released its first earnings report since its June public debut. The company recorded $7.8 billion in second‑quarter sales, a 92% increase year‑over‑year, and its net loss narrowed. Capital expenditures surged to $18.36 billion, $2.8 billion more than a year earlier, with $15.8 billion attributed to its AI unit. Starlink revenue jumped 66% to $4.3 billion, driven by a doubling of subscribers. Despite the revenue growth, free cash flow turned deeply negative, prompting analysts at Vital Knowledge to describe the cash‑flow numbers as “pretty ugly.” Shares of SpaceX fell more than 7% in extended‑hours trading after the report and after CEO Elon Musk’s comments about future AI ambitions and a potential $1 trillion revenue target, including a hint that the firm could launch orbital data centers next year.
AMD Quarterly Results
Advanced Micro Devices posted $11.5 billion in revenue for the quarter ended 27 June, slightly above Wall Street expectations, marking its fifth consecutive quarter of record chip sales. Data‑center revenue reached an all‑time high of $6.7 billion, representing 58% of total sales, up from 42% a year earlier. However, AMD’s shares slipped after Musk announced that SpaceX would exclusively use Nvidia’s Blackwell AI server architecture, abandoning AMD processors.
Novo Nordisk Wegovy Update
Novo Nordisk raised its full‑year guidance, indicating that adjusted sales and operating profit would decline by up to 6% at constant exchange rates, an improvement from the prior forecast of a 4%‑12% decline. Nevertheless, the company’s Wegovy weight‑loss drug missed sales estimates: oral Wegovy sales were 3.2 billion Danish kroner in Q2, below the 3.3 billion kroner consensus, while injectable Wegovy generated 19.48 billion kroner. The miss caused Novo’s Copenhagen‑listed shares to fall in U.S. trading and after the market opened in Europe.
Other Market Movers
Palantir’s shares surged nearly 30% after the firm raised its full‑year revenue guidance and reported quarterly sales growth described by CEO Alex Karp as “otherworldly.” Snap’s stock jumped following a narrowed loss, and Caterpillar added more than 5% after improving its 2026 sales forecast.
Geopolitical Context
President Donald Trump told Fox News that “very good” talks with Iran were underway and that the Strait of Hormuz would be “open very soon,” while warning that Iran would “get hit really hard” if it backed out. Analysts noted that markets have experienced repeated false dawns in this conflict, and Deutsche Bank highlighted that attention will focus on whether a deal is announced imminently and its details.