June 20 (UPI) — Stock futures ticked lower before markets reopened Friday morning amid uncertainty among investors over the Middle East and whether the United States was about to get directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict.
Contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 83 points, 0.2%; futures for the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 and broad-market S&P 500 futures were also off by 0.2% at the open after markets were shuttered all day Thursday for the Juneteenth holiday.
However, all three sets of futures recovered lost ground by 8 a.m. EDT, and were roughly flat.
The November contract for Brent Crude Oil, the international benchmark, fell by more than 2% on jitters from comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he was weighing expanding airstrikes to “stategic targets” in Iran.
However, at just over $72 per barrel, it remains more than $6 above where it was on June 12 before Israel launched its offensive on Iran.
The news sent the July contract for West Texas Intermediate — U.S. crude — 1% higher, before reversing into negative territory, down 0.2%.
“There are several key questions to answer before we know how stocks will handle this geopolitical shock, including how much of Iran’s energy infrastructure will be impaired and for how long, whether Iran’s nuclear capabilities will be completely wiped out, and whether the current regime will remain in power,” LPL Financial chief equity strategist Jeff Buchbinder told CNBC.
Analysts suggested the market was in a holding pattern, still digesting Fed Reserve Jerome Powell’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged and comments that the central bank was unlikely to make a cut until the economic impact of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs became clearer.
International markets were mostly positive, with stock prices higher in Europe and Asia, with the exception of Tokyo where the Nikkei 225 ended the day down 0.2%.