MW U.S. stock futures fall, oil surges as Trump calls Iran's latest offer to end war 'totally unacceptable'
By Mike Murphy
A man sunbathes as a vessel is seen in the Persian Gulf, off the coast of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday.
U.S. stock-index futures fell and oil prices rose on Sunday, after President Donald Trump called Iran's response to the latest U.S. proposal to end the war "totally unacceptable."
That may ramp up tensions again in the Middle East, which has seen its flow of oil to global markets severely hindered by Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the joint U.S.-Israel offensive began in late February.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM00) fell more than 200 points, or 0.4%, late Sunday. S&P 500 futures (ES00) and Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ00) were down around 0.3%. Bitcoin (BTCUSD) remained relatively flat over the weekend, and was recently trading near $81,000, after last week hitting its highest level since January.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures (CL.1) jumped 3%, above $98 a barrel on Sunday. Brent crude (BRN00), the global benchmark, has spent much of the past month above $100 a barrel, helping a 25% surge in first-quarter profits for Saudi oil giant Aramco, which reported earnings Sunday. Aramco (SA:2222) reported a $32.5 billion quarterly profit, as it shifted much of its production to a pipeline across Saudi Arabia that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz,
Oil prices have been relatively stable in recent weeks, though still sharply elevated, as the Persian Gulf cease-fire has largely held despite scattered missile and drone attacks. But there's still much uncertainty.
Iran on Sunday formally responded to the latest U.S. proposal to end the war, though the two sides still seem far apart, especially on nuclear issues, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called "Representatives." I don't like it - TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" Trump posted Sunday, adding no further details.
That could give more credence to what's becoming known as the "NACHO trade" - that stands for "Not a chance Hormuz opens" - which has driven up Treasury yields and inflation expectations on the belief that the war and its impact will last longer than many expect.
While the shadow of the stalemated war with Iran looms over the market, Wall Street has been booming, thanks largely to tech stocks. Last week, all three major U.S. indexes finished with weekly gains, and the S&P 500 SPX and Nasdaq composite COMP closed Friday at record highs. Those two indexes have closed higher for six consecutive weeks. The Dow DJIA rose 0.8% on Friday, and ended the week up 0.2%.
But signs of a bubble may be showing, with a handful of tech stocks having an outsized impact on the wider market. Over the past 30 days, only 22% of stocks in the S&P 500 outperformed the broader index, Citadel Securities' Scott Rubner said in a Friday note. That's a 30-year low, he noted.
Read more: Stocks are walking a tightrope to fresh record highs - as a handful of names do most of the heavy lifting
Investors on Friday were heartened by better-than-expected data from April's jobs report, which suggested a strengthening labor market despite fears that AI will disrupt employment.
This coming week will be another busy one, with quarterly earnings from companies including Cisco Systems $(CSCO)$ and Applied Materials $(AMAT)$; April's consumer-price-index report; and Trump's trip to China, where he'll meet with President Xi Jinping for a two-say summit starting Thursday. Friday is also Jerome Powell's last day as chair of the Federal Reserve, though he'll remain on the board of governors.
Read more: Opinion: 7 stocks expecting a post-earnings jolt - including Applied Materials and Cisco Systems
-Mike Murphy
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May 10, 2026 18:17 ET (22:17 GMT)
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