Stock Futures Rise After Dow, S&P 500 Fall for 3rd Straight Session; Oil Prices Jump as Trump Orders Blockade of Venezuelan Tankers

Stock futures pointed higher Wednesday, a day after an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 lower for a third consecutive session. 

Futures associated with the tech-heavy Nasdaq, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow were up a respective 0.4%, 0.3%, and 0.2%.

Yesterday, the Dow and S&P 500 ended down 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.2% after posting three straight sessions of losses amid fears about an AI bubble.

Investors Tuesday digested delayed nonfarm payrolls data, which indicated a better-than-expected 64,000 jobs were created in November, but the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.6%, the highest level since July 2021.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, briefly slipped below $55 a barrel for the first time since early 2021 yesterday but rebounded about 2.5% to $56.70 Wednesday after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela.

Gold futures advanced 0.3% to $4,345 an ounce, within striking distance of their all-time high of $4,398 set on Oct. 20.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of commercial and consumer loans, rose to 4.17% from 4.15% at Tuesday’s close. Bitcoin traded around $86,600, down from the day’s high of above $87,900. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, was 0.4% higher at 98.54.

In corporate news, Tesla (TSLA) shares were little changed in premarket trading after surging 3.1% to an all-time high yesterday. The stock has jumped about 10% over the past three sessions, aided by CEO Elon Musk’s X post over the weekend confirming that the company was testing driverless cars in Austin, Texas.

Shares of Broadcom (AVGO) and Oracle (ORCL), which rose a respective 0.5% and 2.3% yesterday after having plunged the prior three sessions as investors digested disappointing quarterly earnings reports amid concerns about the AI trade, were up roughly 1% further apiece before the bell.

Amazon (AMZN) stock gained 2% in premarket trading following a report in The Information that the e-commerce giant was in talks with OpenAI about making an investment worth at least $10 billion in the ChatGPT maker and allowing the Sam Altman-led company to use its AI chips.

Also, Micron Technology (MU) shares advanced more than 3% ahead of its quarterly results after the bell, while those of homebuilder Lennar (LEN) fell 4% after it issued soft orders and deliveries guidance amid a sluggish housing market.