U.S. stock futures were mixed on Wednesday, as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices rose, while Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 declined, following Tuesday’s mixed close.
During his address at the UN General Assembly, President Donald Trump warned that he could “annihilate” Iran if negotiations fail. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” Trump said. "Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly?”
Wednesday’s earnings docket includes reports from Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ:CTAS), Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX), General Mills Inc. (NYSE:GIS), and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL) among others.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.96%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.77% at the last check. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 57.6% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates after its October meeting.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.01% |
| S&P 500 | 0.04% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.04% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.37% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket trading on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.12% at $774.30, while the QQQ advanced 0.011% to $747.54.
Stocks In Focus
Worthington Enterprises
- Worthington Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:WOR) jumped 15.93% in premarket on Wednesday after it reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that WOR maintains a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor growth score.
KB Home
- KB Home (NYSE:KBH) slipped 1.83% in Wednesday premarket despite reporting upbeat financial results for the third quarter after the market close on Tuesday.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that KBH maintains a weak price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a moderate quality score.
Royal Caribbean Cruises
- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) was up 1.00% in premarket after it reportedly confirmed its largest-ever acquisition, a $3 billion stake in Sandals Resorts.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that RCL maintains a weak price trend in the medium, short, and long term, with a moderate value score.
IONQ
- IONQ Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) rose 11.98% in premarket after unveiling a real-time quantum error correction decoder that runs end-to-end on a single standard commercial CPU, solving a critical roadblock in the push toward fault-tolerant quantum computing.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that IONQ maintains a weak price trend in the long and medium terms but a strong trend in the short term.
Oracle
- Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) was 0.32% higher in premarket as the U.K.’s largest live entertainment arena, Co-op Live, deployed Oracle Cloud Applications, including Simphony Cloud POS and NetSuite, to streamline venue hospitality and financial operations.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that ORCL maintains a weak price trend in the long and medium terms but a strong trend in the short term, with a good growth score.
Cues From Last Session
Communication services, financials, and energy lagged while materials and consumer staples advanced, leading U.S. stocks to settle mixed on Tuesday, though the Nasdaq Composite gained over 100 points to hit a record high.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Dow Jones | -0.36% | 51,863.69 |
| S&P 500 | -0.00077% | 7,764.64 |
| Nasdaq Composite | 0.45% | 27,244.28 |
| Russell 2000 | 0.51% | 2,889.92 |
Insights From Analysts
In his commentary, Professor Jeremy Siegel presents a balanced outlook on the U.S. economy and stock market, highlighting underlying growth alongside key risks from rising bond yields.
Siegel notes that “economic growth remains very strong,” supported by robust retail sales and solid GDP expectations, though persistent inflation has led the Fed to tighten policy. While he expects the Fed’s next rate increase in December, he stresses that long-term Treasury yields—not short-term rate hikes—pose the primary test for equities.
With the 10-year Treasury yield hovering near 5%, Siegel observes that “if yields stabilize below 5%, equities can continue to grind higher,” but a decisive move above that threshold makes further market advances far more difficult.
Regarding artificial intelligence, Siegel remains optimistic about its long-term potential, though he cautions that short-term demand for computing power is creating temporary inflationary pressures.
He believes AI will ultimately boost economy-wide productivity and lower costs, likening the current environment to “Robert Solow’s famous observation in the 1980s… that computers could be seen everywhere except in the productivity statistics,” before gains eventually materialized. Overall, he views equities as resilient, provided bond yields remain contained.
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on Wednesday.
- September’s flash U.S. manufacturing PMI and flash U.S. services PMI data will be released by 9:45 a.m. ET.
Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets
Crude Oil WTI futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.30% to hover around $90.25 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.90% to hover around $4,319.24 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.24% higher at the 100.8420 level.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.90% higher at $86,148.31 per coin over the last 24 hours.
Asian markets were higher on Wednesday, except China’s CSI 300 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices. India’s Nifty 50, Australia’s ASX 200, Japan’s Nikkei 225, South Korea’s Kospi indices rose. European markets were lower in early trading.
Photo courtesy: godongphoto / Shutterstock.com
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