US Stocks Likely To Open Lower Amid Iran-Israel Conflict: Accenture, Kroger Stocks In Focus Ahead Of Earnings

U.S. futures were trading lower on Friday after a day’s break on Thursday. Futures of major benchmark indices were trading lower.

Investors stayed on edge due to the continuing Iran-Israel conflict and the possibility of U.S. intervention, especially after the White House announced President Donald Trump would decide within two weeks.

Both the NYSE and Nasdaq were closed Thursday for Juneteenth but will reopen Friday for regular trading.

The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.40% and the two-year bond was at 3.94%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 91.7% likelihood of the Federal Reserve keeping the current interest rates unchanged in its July meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were slightly lower in premarket on Friday. The SPY was down 0.49% at $594.51, while the QQQ declined 0.22% to $527.84, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

On Wednesday, most S&P 500 sectors ended in the red, with energy, materials, and communication services stocks seeing the largest declines.

Conversely, information technology and utilities shares defied the broader market downturn, closing the session with gains.

U.S. stocks overall finished mixed, after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its recent meeting.

Guild Holdings Co. GHLD shares surged over 25% after announcing a definitive agreement for acquisition by a fund managed by Bayview Asset Management.

Economically, U.S. initial jobless claims decreased by 5,000 to 245,000 in the week ending June 14, aligning with estimates. However, U.S. housing starts dropped 9.8% month-over-month to an adjusted annual rate of 1.256 million units in May.

The Dow Jones index ended 44 points or 0.10% lower at 42,171.66, whereas the S&P 500 index fell 0.031% to 5,980.87. Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.13% to 19,546.27, and the small-cap gauge, Russell 2000, gained 0.52% to end at 2,112.96.

Insights From Analysts:

According to the Senior Global Market Strategist at Wells Fargo, Scott Wren, “volatility creates opportunities,” especially when the outlook doesn't call for a recession and an accompanying contraction in earnings.

“When stocks are down because the economy is slowing, buying opportunities often result, particularly for longer-term investors whose goal is building wealth over time. Our view is that the U.S. economy and earnings growth are both going to slow down in coming quarters, but neither the economy nor earnings are going to actually contract.”

The U.S. usually leads the rest of the world into an economic slowdown or recession and then leads the world back out into a period of growth, he explained, adding that “We don't think this time will be different. Hard to time, yes, but different, likely not.”

Wren also suggests investors keep a couple of key points in mind for a summer that could see larger-than-usual market swings.

First, with the S&P 500 Index nearing its year-end target, Wren believes now is the time to trim stock portfolios, not liquidate them. He favors reducing international equity holdings, U.S. small-cap equities, and cyclical equity sectors like Industrials and Materials.

Second, Wren anticipates that once “summer policy fireworks begin” and both equity and bond prices retreat, opportunities will emerge to deploy cash into markets and sectors with strong long-term growth prospects. His favorites for these additions include U.S. large- and mid-cap equities, along with large-cap sectors such as Information Technology, Communication Services, Energy, Financials, and Utilities.

Meanwhile, on the Fed’s Wednesday decision, Jamie Cox, the managing partner at Harris Financial Group, said, "The Fed continues to overplay the inflation story and isn't paying attention to burgeoning demand weakness." –

Northlight Asset Management CIO, Chris Zaccarelli, on the other hand, explained that the Fed was waiting to see if tariffs increase inflation or the jobs market starts to falter, and whichever part of their dual mandate is impacted first will likely guide whichever direction they take, "although the bias is still toward cutting rates (or at least keeping rates unchanged; not raising rates)."

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Friday:

• June’s Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey will be out by 8:30 a.m., and May’s U.S. leading economic indicators will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus:

• Accenture PLC ACN was up 2.16% in premarket on Friday as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $3.32 per share on revenue of $17.30 billion, before the opening bell.
• Carmax Inc. KMX advanced 2.44% as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $1.16 per share on revenue of $7.47 billion, before the opening bell.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. DRI was down 1.68% as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $2.97 per share on revenue of $3.26 billion, before the opening bell.
• Kroger Co. KR gained 1.40% as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $1.46 per share on revenue of $45.19 billion, before the opening bell.
• APi Group Corp. APG jumped 6.15% and United States Steel Corp. X was 0.24% higher as the former will replace the latter in the S&P MidCap 400 before the opening of trading on Tuesday, June 24.
• Galaxy Digital Inc. GLXY surged 8.14% after the digital asset and AI infrastructure company announced a 29 million share offering last month to fund the continued expansion of high-performance computing infrastructure at its Helios data center campus in West Texas.
• FuelCell Energy Inc. FCEL rose 3.29% on news of technical collaboration with NuScale Power to develop an integrated simulator for hydrogen production.
• Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. SWBI dropped 1342% after reporting the fourth-quarter revenue of $140.8 million, missing analyst estimates of $152.41 million. The company reported adjusted earnings of 20 cents per share in the fourth quarter, missing estimates of 23 cents per share.
• Gorilla Technology Group Inc. GRRR jumped 14.41% after reporting first-quarter adjusted earnings of 23 cents, improved from a loss of $1.47 per share in the prior year's quarter.

Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.54% to hover around $73.90 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.50% to hover around $3,353.57 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was lower by 0.33% at the 98.5780 level.

Asian markets ended on a mixed note on Friday as Australia's ASX 200 and Japan's Nikkei 225 indices fell. While China’s CSI 300, South Korea's Kospi, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and India's S&P BSE Sensex indices advanced. European markets were mostly higher in early trade.

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