Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures fell on Sunday evening as renewed hostilities in the Middle East showed few signs of easing, with focus turning to a swathe of key second-quarter earnings due this week.
The U.S. and Iran traded more strikes over the weekend and offered conflicting signals on the state of the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices up sharply and keeping markets on edge.
S&P 500 Futures fell 0.3% to 7,598.50 points by 19:16 ET (23:16 GMT). Futures fell 0.5% to 29,890.50 points, while Futures fell 0.2% to 52,814.0 points.
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US, Iran trade more strikes; Tehran says Hormuz closed
U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said it had launched more attacks on Iran over the weekend, while separate reports said Tehran had retaliated by attacking U.S. bases in the Middle East.
Tehran also said that the Strait of Hormuz was closed for commercial shipping, while Centcom said the waterway remained open.
The latest wave of attacks mark a further worsening in U.S.-Iran relations after President Donald Trump said last week that a ceasefire with Tehran was over. But Trump also said that Iran had reached out seeking more dialogue.
Oil prices rose sharply on Sunday evening following the new wave of attacks, although still traded well below peaks hit during the beginning of the U.S.-Iran war.
Wall St ends near record high; Q2 earnings in sight
Wall Street indexes ended higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 in sight of a record high following the blockbuster debut of SK Hynix’s ()’s Nasdaq-listed shares. The Nasdaq and Dow added about 0.3% each.
The second-quarter earnings season is set to kick off in earnest this week, with major banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co (), Bank of America Corp (), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (), Wells Fargo & Company (), and Citigroup Inc () set to report on Tuesday.
Morgan Stanley () and Bank of New York Mellon Corp () will report on Wednesday, while pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson () and chipmaking majors ASML Holding NV () and TSMC () are also set to report this week. Unitedhealth Group (), GE Aerospace (), and Netflix Inc () are also set to report earnings later this week.
Focus will be squarely on whether corporate profits persevered despite increasing economic disruptions caused by the Iran war and rising energy prices.