Dow Futures are experiencing a modest increase, as a series of significant technology earnings reports are anticipated later this week. The U.S. and Iran continue to engage in retaliatory strikes, which pose a risk of further disrupting supply flows through the Strait of Hormuz, consequently pushing Brent oil prices back above $90 a barrel. China’s Moonshot AI is reportedly gearing up for a Hong Kong initial public offering, while SpaceX announces plans to conduct the thirteenth test flight of its Starship later this week.

Dow futures indicated an upward trajectory on Monday, as investors monitored the persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and geared up for a trading week rich with significant earnings reports from the technology sector. By 03:33, the Dow futures contract had gained 50 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 futures were up by 17 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had advanced by 129 points, or 0.5%. The primary indices on Wall Street experienced a decline on Friday. Concerns have escalated regarding the artificial intelligence surge, which, while contributing significantly to this year’s equity gains, is now under scrutiny regarding the sustainability of the substantial investment in this emerging technology. According to Reuters, certain active managers have begun to reduce their exposure to AI-related names. Semiconductor manufacturers, which supply the critical tools driving the AI era, experienced significant challenges due to the recent increase in risk-off sentiment. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index closed more than 20% below its June 22 level, indicating that the tracker of the segment has entered bear market territory. “For tech investors, bears won the week overwhelmingly, although the slump was more a function of narrative shift and technical dislocation (extremely crowded and complacent positioning and bullish but stale sentiment) than incrementally negative news flow,” analysts said in a note. This week’s agenda will prominently feature a series of corporate reports from notable technology firms, including chipmaker Intel, Google-parent Alphabet, and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.

U.S. military forces have engaged in operations against Iran for the ninth consecutive day as of Monday, intensifying concerns regarding the imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping traffic. The attacks followed Iran’s announcement that two oil tankers had been struck and rendered immobile. Tehran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps reported the initiation of strikes targeting U.S. aircraft located at an airport in Jordan, alongside American military assets and equipment situated in Kuwait and Syria. Bahrain’s interior ministry also indicated that sirens had been activated on Monday morning. A cycle of reciprocal strikes has emerged between the U.S. and Iran, just weeks following the signing of a framework for a ceasefire that remains tenuous at best. Markets have been closely monitoring the potential for exchanges to escalate and disrupt the flow of essential supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial maritime route located off the southern coast of Iran.

Against this backdrop, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, once again climbed above $90 a barrel. Volatility has characterised the contract since the commencement of the joint U.S.-Israeli operation against Iran in late February. Brent reached a peak of $110 a barrel at one stage following the onset of the conflict, subsequently retracing to approximately pre-war levels of about $70 a barrel after the ceasefire agreement was finalised in June. Yet the renewed hostilities have reignited upward pressure on crude in recent days. At 03:21, Brent had risen by 2.8% to $90.56 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures had gained 2.3% to $84.39 a barrel. Rising oil prices have heightened concerns regarding a potential surge in global inflation, which may compel central banks to consider increasing interest rates as a countermeasure.

China’s Moonshot AI is gearing up for a Hong Kong initial public offering, potentially within the next six months, aiming to leverage investor enthusiasm following the launch of its Kimi K3 artificial intelligence model, sources indicated on Sunday. The Beijing-based startup has circulated a shareholder resolution to obtain investor approval for a potential listing, according to sources familiar with the preparations. Moonshot is also finalising a private funding round that may appraise the three-year-old enterprise at over $30 billion. Terms of the financing remain unfinalized. Interest in Moonshot has increased following the release of Kimi K3, an open-weight model that demonstrated robust performance compared to several prominent U.S. systems. However, Moonshot acknowledged that it still lags behind Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 in terms of overall capability.

SpaceX announced its intention to conduct the thirteenth test flight of its Starship as early as Thursday, following the cancellation of a previous test flight last week mere minutes before liftoff. The rocket manufacturer announced on Sunday that the Starship, the company’s largest and most powerful rocket, will primarily focus on achieving a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore location. The vessel is set to transport Starlink V3 satellites. A test flight last week was aborted just before launch due to the failure of some of the spacecraft’s engines to ignite. Starship’s 12th test flight encountered engine issues, prompting an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration. Shares of SpaceX, which declined last week below the price established at their blockbuster initial public offering, experienced an increase of over 1% in extended hours trading.