Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the opening bell rings on April 30, 2026.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures traded near the flatline Sunday night as investors focused on the latest developments in the Middle East.
S&P500 futures Add 0.1%, Nasdaq 100 futures The increase was less than 0.1%. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average Added 86 points (0.2%).
On Friday, both S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite New intraday and closing highs. The general market index rose 0.29%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.89%. of Dow However, it bucked the trend and fell by 152.87 points (0.31%).
President Donald Trump announced “Project Freedom” in a post on Sunday Truth Social, saying the United States would help “liberate” cargo ships from countries not involved in the Middle East conflict and stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. The effort is scheduled to begin on Monday, President Trump wrote.
“I told my representatives to tell them that we will use our best efforts to get the vessel and crew safely out of the strait,” he said in the post. “In each case, they said they wouldn’t go back until the area was safe for navigation and everything else.” The president’s Truth Social post had no details about how such an effort would unfold.
President Trump’s announcement came after Iran announced on Sunday that it had received a response from the United States to its latest offer for peace talks.
Earlier on Friday, Iran reportedly sent an updated peace proposal through a Pakistani intermediary, raising investor optimism that a rapprochement with the United States could be reached. But President Trump said Friday he was not satisfied with Tehran’s offer, saying Iran only signed the deal “because we don’t have any troops left.”
Investor expectations for developments in the Middle East and strong first-quarter results have pushed stocks to new records in recent days, and Nigel Tapper, a quantitative strategist at Bank of America, sees reason to remain bullish.
“Strong global earnings cycles and several persistent investment themes continue to support global equity market returns,” Tapper said in a note to clients on Friday.
Chris Seniek, chief investment strategist at Wolfe Research, believes the strong returns from the Magnificent Seven tech giants will result in artificial intelligence remaining the market’s most dominant theme.
“We think investors are likely to continue chasing perceived technology winners in areas such as semiconductors and memory, as earnings from mega-cap technology companies continue to grow and give further momentum to the AI theme,” he said.
The most important economic news this week will be the April jobs report, which will be released Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Dow Jones Consensus estimates the U.S. economy will add just 53,000 jobs in April, far below the previous burst of 178,000, and the unemployment rate will remain at 4.3%.
Traders will also keep an eye on the next report. lowe’s, norwegian cruise line and tyson foods before the opening bell on Monday.
—CNBC’s Garrett Downs contributed reporting.
