United States stock futures were little changed on Thursday night (Friday AEDT) after Wall Street extended its losses during the regular session as rising oil prices and escalating conflict between the United States and Iran weighed on investor sentiment.
By 10:35 am AEDT (11:35 pm GMT), Dow futures, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were each trading within a range of ±0.1%.
In extended trading, Costco Wholesale slipped 0.2% in after-hours trading, despite the retailer reporting results that slightly exceeded market expectations. Costco posted earnings per share (EPS) of $4.58 on revenue of $69.6 billion for its fiscal second quarter. Analysts had forecast EPS of $4.55 on revenue of $69.29 billion.
Marvell Technology shares surged 14.2% following quarterly results. The company reported adjusted EPS of $0.80 on revenue of $2.22 billion versus expected EPS of $0.79 and revenue of $2.21 billion.
In contrast, shares of apparel retailer Gap fell nearly 7.5% after the company reported quarterly results that narrowly missed expectations. Gap posted fourth-quarter EPS of $0.45, slightly below expectations of $0.46, while revenue came in at $4.24 billion, in line with market estimates.
Telematics software company Samsara also posted strong gains, with its shares rising more than 11.8% after issuing optimistic financial guidance.
The muted futures trading followed another weak session on Wall Street overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6%, while the S&P 500 declined 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.3%.
Oil markets remained volatile as shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continued to face disruptions amid the conflict.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up 8.5% at $81.01 a barrel, marking the highest level since 2024. International benchmark Brent crude climbed 4.9%.
Investor attention is now turning to the release of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for February, which is expected to provide further clues about the strength of the labour market and the broader economic outlook.
Economists are forecasting the U.S. economy added around 50,000 jobs during the month, a sharp slowdown from the 130,000 positions created in January. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.3%.
