U.S. stock futures declined on Thursday, with the Dow Jones, Nasdaq 100, and S&P 500 indices falling following Wednesday's close. The decline comes as investors react to earnings reports from major technology companies and navigate geopolitical uncertainty. U.S. intelligence analysts are investigating whether Russia assisted Iran in recent precise strikes on CIA facilities in the Gulf, according to Reuters. The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.67%, and the two-year bond was at 4.31%. Markets are pricing a 64.2% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged during July's meeting.

Index Performance

Futures for major indices showed mixed to negative performance in premarket trading. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) was down 0.25% at $745.57, while the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) declined by 0.21% to $703.89.

Stocks in Focus

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) slipped 5.52% in premarket trading after reporting mixed second-quarter financial results. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was down 3.63% despite posting better-than-expected sales, as investor concerns mounted over projected capital expenditures of $195 billion to $205 billion in 2026. Conversely, ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) jumped 7.25% after reporting quarterly earnings of 90 cents per share, beating the Street estimate of 85 cents, with revenue of $3.99 billion against a consensus of $3.93 billion. Quantumscape Corp. (NASDAQ: QS) dropped 5.64% after reporting a quarterly loss of 16 cents per share, which beat the estimate for an 18-cent loss. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was up 1.42% ahead of its earnings release, with analysts expecting earnings of 19 cents per share on revenue of $14.40 billion.

Cues From Last Session

In the previous session, utilities, materials, and energy stocks recorded the biggest gains, while communication services and consumer discretionary shares were among the biggest losers.

Analyst Insights

BlackRock maintains a "pro-risk stance" and continues to be overweight U.S. equities despite heightened Middle East tensions and market volatility. The firm expects resilient economic growth and moderating inflation to persist, noting that the broader macro outlook remains mostly intact. BlackRock emphasizes that the artificial intelligence investment cycle and strong corporate earnings, which "comfortably outpaces the rising cost of capital," support their risk-on position.

Commodities and Global Markets

Crude Oil WTI futures rose 3.26% to $89.66 per barrel. Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.91% to $4,092.53 per ounce. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.53% lower at $65,580.85. Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, except India's Nifty 50, with gains in Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. European markets were mostly lower in early trade.

U.S. stocks settled lower on Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped more than 300 points amid rising oil prices, while the CNN Money Fear and Greed index remained in the "Fear" zone. The market decline reflected widespread weakness, with major benchmarks recording losses last week, including a 1.6% drop in the S&P 500 and a 2.9% decline in the Nasdaq. The Dow also declined 0.9% for the week.

Index Performance

The Dow Jones closed lower by around 307 points to 51,839.26 on Monday. The S&P 500 fell 0.19% to 7,443.28, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.05% to 25,508.07 during the session.

Market Sentiment and Outlook

At a current reading of 37.6, the Fear & Greed Index remained in the "Fear" zone on Monday. The index is calculated based on seven equal-weighted indicators, ranging from 0 to 100, where 0 represents maximum fear and 100 signals maximum greed. Markets are pricing in one Fed rate hike this year, with odds of a September move holding above 60% ahead of next week’s FOMC meeting.

Sector Performance

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with health care, materials, and industrials stocks recording the biggest losses. However, communication services and energy stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher.

Market Movers

IREN Ltd soared around 20% after signing $2.8 billion in new multi-year AI Cloud contracts with customers including Microsoft, Nvidia, and Perplexity, prompting the company to lift its year-end AI cloud annual recurring revenue target above $4 billion. On the earnings front, Ryanair Holdings PLC fell more than 5% following weak first-quarter results, while Domino’s Pizza Inc stock rose over 2% after reporting second-quarter revenue that topped Wall Street estimates, although earnings per share missed expectations. Investors are awaiting earnings results from General Motors Co, 3M Co, and Northrop Grumman Corp.