Stock futures rebound as chip stocks bounce, but gain limited as oil rises on Trump comments: Live updates

U.S. equity futures gained on Thursday, boosted by a rebound in chip stocks after recent pressure, but those gains were capped as oil prices rose as U.S.-Iran tensions ramped up.

S&P 500 futures gained 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.6%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 184 points, or 0.4%.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose nearly 1% to trade around $90 a barrel after President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. will be attacking Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT.” He also said, “At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.”

This comes after U.S. Central Command forces launched more “self-defense strikes” against Iran late Wednesday, according to Centcom’s post on social media platform X. The attacks came at the direction of Trump, according to the post.

Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Intel rebounded in premarket trading, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF gained 3%. The chip ETF was under pressure again this week following a 10% drubbing on Friday that’s called many investors to question whether the parabolic move in the sector was over. Intel was upgraded by Bank of America from underperform to buy on Thursday and the shares responded with a 5% premarket gain.

The chip rebound came as enthusiasm builds ahead of SpaceX’s debut on Friday, which could highlight the expected growth in the AI buildout ahead. Although some traders believe the recent chip weakness is due to investors selling the stocks in their portfolios to make room for the IPO, which will be the largest debut ever at a $1.8 trillion valuation.

The tech gains Thursday came even as shares of Oracle dropped 9% as the software giant announced plans to raise an additional $20 billion in equity and debt to pay for its artificial intelligence buildout.

Elsewhere, the producer price index increased 1.1% in May, more than the 0.7% that economists polled by Dow Jones expected. Core inflation — which excludes volatile food and energy prices — stood at 0.4%, below the Dow Jones forecast for 0.5%.

Stocks fell during Wednesday’s regular trading session, thanks to another rout in the chip sector and a ramp-up in tensions with Iran. The Dow tumbled 953.33 points, or 1.87%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.62%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.98%.

Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark Global Investments, said that many investors are now buying into what they believe to be the opposite of the artificial intelligence trade that drove stocks for much of this year.

“I think what people are saying are, where can we go that kind of hedges that tech trade? What would be the antithesis of the momentum and the beta?” she said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday afternoon. “We’re seeing that rotation out of tech into some things that have been beaten down a little bit over the past months.”

Fernandez added that she’s seen her clients increasingly put money into other areas such as pharmaceuticals and biotech within healthcare, as well as the financials and energy sectors.