U.S. stock futures were mixed on Wednesday, as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures fell, while the Nasdaq 100 edged up following Tuesday’s lower close.

Brent crude surged toward $100 per barrel following military exchanges in the Middle East. Escalating supply disruption fears intensified after CENTCOM destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in response to attacks on U.S. naval vessels and Houthi strikes targeted Saudi energy facilities.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the U.S. “can’t pause” its artificial intelligence race with China, stressing that “if they were to pull ahead of us on AI, then nothing else matters.” However, while defending the infrastructure buildout, Bessent gave tech companies a “D-minus” for their community outreach, cautioning that a growing local backlash threatens the nation’s technological edge.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.8%, and the two-year bond was at 4.4%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 60.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates at its September meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower on Wednesday. The SPY was down 0.07% at $765.46, while the QQQ declined 0.1% to $717.63.

Stocks In Focus

Mission Produce

• Mission Produce Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) rose 5.52% in premarket on Wednesday after posting better-than-expected third-quarter results. It reported quarterly earnings of 18 cents per share and quarterly sales of $450.000 million, both beating estimates.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that AVO maintains a weak price trend in the short and long terms but a strong trend in the medium term, with a poor quality score.

Casey’s General Stores

• Casey’s General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) dropped 8.52% in premarket despite posting upbeat first-quarter results.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CASY maintains a weak price trend in the short and medium terms but a strong trend in the long term, with a moderate value core.

ServiceTitan

• ServiceTitan Inc. (NASDAQ:TTAN) plunged 16.94% in premarket despite a double beat as CEO Ara Mahdessian confirmed delaying its push into new commercial trades and residential exteriors to fund its Max platform, a shift CFO Dave Sherry pegged as a $4 million to $5 million near-term revenue headwind.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that TTAN maintains a strong price trend in the long, short, and medium terms.

Rocket Labs

• Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB) rose 4.89% in premarket after it announced a next-generation product for space applications, the Inverted Metamorphic Apex solar cell. The cell delivers a 31.5% Beginning-of-Life conversion efficiency and 40% lower mass than the prior version.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that RKLB maintains a weak price trend in the long, short, and medium terms.

American Eagle Outfitters

• American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE:AEO) rose 0.64% in premarket as analysts expect it to post quarterly earnings of 22 cents per share on revenue of $1.37 billion after the closing bell.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that AEO maintains a strong price trend in the short and medium terms but a weak trend in the long term, with a good value.

Cues From Last Session

Health care, financial, and materials stocks led the losses as most S&P 500 sectors closed lower on Tuesday, though energy and utilities bucked the drop to finish higher.

Insights From Analysts

Lawrence Gillum, Chief Fixed Income Strategist at LPL Financial, views current market pressures as an “uncomfortable but necessary normalization rather than a crisis.”

Addressing rising Treasury yields, higher federal deficits, and massive corporate debt issuance—particularly from AI companies—Gillum emphasizes that higher yields are actively “recruiting buyers,” which confirms the market is functioning as designed rather than collapsing.

For fixed income and broader financial markets, Gillum sees this “higher-for-longer” yield environment as a major net positive for income-focused investors. He notes, “Starting yields across the Treasury and high-grade corporate credit complex are the best they have been in 20 years,” turning market carry into a reliable long-term engine for total returns.

While acknowledging real risks—such as federal debt topping $40 trillion, stubborn inflation, and large supply pressures—Gillum maintains that “higher-for-longer is not the risk case for an income portfolio. It is the bull case.” Consequently, he recommends staying neutral on benchmark duration while leveraging high-quality credit, TIPS, and agency MBS.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on this week.

• No data is scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude Oil WTI futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 2.60% to hover around $94.87 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 1.02% to hover around $4,400.06 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.02% lower at the 98.7630 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 1.50% higher at $79,639.32 per coin over the last 24 hours.

Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday as South Korea’s Kospi and China’s CSI 300 indices rose. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Australia’s ASX 200, and India’s Nifty 50 indices fell. European markets were also lower in early trading.

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