Wall St set for higher open as investors weigh Mideast negotiations

By Twesha Dikshit and Joel Jose

June 22 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were set to open higher on Monday after Friday’s public holiday, as investors were optimistic about progress in the latest round of U.S.-Iran negotiations.

U.S. and Iranian officials made “encouraging progress” at the first round of their talks in Switzerland that ended early on Monday, mediators said, although tension persisted over Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices fell as much as 2%, as Washington and Tehran agreed during the talks to a roadmap toward a final deal within 60 days.

“While markets have been resilient in recent weeks in the hope the Middle East conflict can be resolved and we don’t see a persistent high inflationary environment, the Middle East conflict is still a live issue and that means investors aren’t going into full-blown risk-on mood,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

Hopes of a peace deal helped the three key indexes end with significant weekly gains on Thursday, with the Nasdaq gaining 2.4% as technology shares continued to drive markets higher.

At 8:37 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 105 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 3.75 points, or 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 111.25 points, or 0.36%.

Shares of memory chipmakers moved higher in premarket trading, with Micron Technology and Sandisk gaining about 4% each. Intel rose 2.6%.

The next test for the rally will be Micron’s quarterly results on Wednesday. Shares of the memory chipmaker have risen almost 300% for the year.

AI-driven optimism has supported Wall Street’s recent rally, while a resilient economy and hopes for an end to the four-month-long Middle East conflict have bolstered the broader market.

A key focus this week will be on Thursday’s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of core inflation. A hotter-than-expected reading is likely to reinforce expectations of a hawkish Federal Reserve after Chair Kevin Warsh underscored the need to curb inflation at last week’s meeting.

Markets currently expect a 25-basis-point rate hike from the Fed in September, according to LSEG data. Yields on 2-year notes, which reflect near-term rate expectations, hit their highest level since early 2025 at 4.230%.

Comments from central bank speakers this week, including New York President John Williams and Chicago President Austan Goolsbee, will also be closely watched for policy signals.

Among other movers, SpaceX shares fell nearly 4% to $177.80 after two straight sessions of declines following a stellar debut.

Apogee Therapeutics jumped 47% after AbbVie said it would acquire the biotech for $10.9 billion in cash. AbbVie was up 1.5%.

(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Joel Jose in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Maju Samuel)