US stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed back at levels last seen before the outbreak of the war. Investors remained focused on developments in the Middle East, including the prospect of a second round of talks between the US and Iran, while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continued to be constrained.
At the same time, attention is shifting toward corporate earnings. Bank of America gained about 1% in premarket trading after reporting higher first-quarter profits. Shares of PNC were little changed as revenue came in below expectations, and Morgan Stanley traded near the flatline ahead of its results.
In tech, Broadcom rose roughly 3% after Meta said it had agreed to deploy 1 gigawatt of custom AI chips built on Broadcom technology, though Meta’s own shares were little changed. Other megacap stocks showed a mixed picture before the opening bell, with Nvidia (-0.2%) and Alphabet (-0.2%) edging lower, while Microsoft (+0.7%) and Tesla (+0.6%) traded higher.