Stock market today: Futures slip as techs tumble and US-Iran truce weakens

Market snapshot

US stock futures slid on Wednesday as investors awaited May's consumer price index and reacted to a renewed flare-up between the US and Iran that has cast doubt on fragile peace talks. The Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) led the pullback, down roughly 1.7%, S&P 500 futures (ES=F) fell about 1.2%, and Dow futures (YM=F) were off around 1% as selling in technology names intensified.

The weakness follows Tuesdays sell-off in tech stocks and continued rotation out of the artificial-intelligence (AI) trade. Pressure on growth and AI-linked names has been amplified by concerns around private AI firms preparing public listings notably OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) and Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) and by the prospect of large new offerings drawing investor cash into mega-IPOs.

Whats driving the moves

All eyes are on Mays CPI report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect the annual headline rate to accelerate to about 4.2% year-over-year the hottest reading in more than three years. A hotter-than-expected inflation print would likely strengthen wagers that the Federal Reserve may still need to lift interest rates this year, increasing pressure on long-duration growth stocks.

Energy markets were volatile after a fresh round of US-Iran clashes. President Trump posted that Iran had taken too long to negotiate and warned it would have to pay the price, comments that followed US strikes on Iranian targets and were accompanied by further regional exchanges. Brent crude (BZ=F) jumped nearly 2% toward $93 a barrel, while WTI (CL=F) traded just below $90. Higher energy costs could feed through to broader inflation and complicate the Feds outlook.

Safe-haven flows were also evident in commodity markets. Gold (GC=F) extended a recent slide, falling as much as 2.1% to around $4,173 an ounce on Wednesday after earlier U.S. strikes and subsequent regional reprisals, leaving bullion roughly 20% below its pre-conflict level from late February.

Corporate calendar and tech focus

Investors will scrutinize Oracle (ORCL) after the bell on Wednesday; the company is due to report fourth-quarter results and commentary on its cloud business. Oracle counts OpenAI among its customers and signed a major multi-year deal that underpins much of the latters infrastructure, so investors will watch cloud growth and contract details closely. Street consensus ahead of the report points to EPS near $1.97 on revenue around $19 billion for the quarter, according to Bloomberg estimates.

Looking ahead to Friday, the market is bracing for the expected initial public offering of SpaceX (SPCX). That debut is widely anticipated to be the largest IPO ever and is already testing investor appetite, with some retail flows shifting toward space-related stocks and potentially away from semiconductor and chip names.

Investor takeaway

The near-term market narrative is shaped by a cluster of cross-currents: inflation data that could re-price rate expectations, fresh geopolitical risk that threatens energy supply and inflation, and sector rotation as investors reassess the AI trade ahead of large potential IPOs. The combination is creating a challenging backdrop for tech and growth-oriented holdings.

For traders, the CPI release and corporate earnings such as Oracles will be focal points for volatility. For longer-term investors, the interplay between higher energy prices and core inflation will be important to monitor if elevated energy costs persist, the Feds path becomes more hawkish and the valuation premium on AI and other growth sectors may come under renewed pressure.

In short, markets look set for continued choppiness as data and geopolitics converge. Keep an eye on inflation prints, oil and gold moves, and earnings commentary that could clarify how much the AI trade still matters to corporate revenue trajectories.