Stock Futures Higher as Anthropic Rally Continues, Israel Election in Focus — Update
By Joe StonorStock futures climbed after an Anthropic-powered tech rally in the last session lost pace, while politics remained in focus as Israelis head to the polls in crucial parliamentary elections.A rally in tech stocks after Anthropic filed paperwork for its mammoth initial public offering Monday continued early Tuesday, after the frontier model maker committed to a public listing and revealed revenues that met market expectations.Asian and European tech stocks rose following the filing, supporting tech-heavy indexes in South Korea and Japan to gains overnight. Nasdaq futures reversed earlier losses to gain 0.4%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 gained around 0.25%. Investors await earnings from big tech companies later this week for further direction on the AI buildout, including an earnings report from South Korean chip maker SK Hynix due late Tuesday U.S. east coast time."The debate has shifted from whether companies will spend on AI to whether those investments can generate attractive returns within a reasonable timeframe," said UniCredit strategist Tobias Keller. "That scrutiny matters after a year in which technology has again accounted for a disproportionate share of the wider market's advance."Treasury yields slipped in early trade as investors await Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy decision and subsequent comments from Chair Kevin Warsh. Markets currently price an 89.5% likelihood the policy rate will be held steady, according to LSEG. Two-year yields edged slightly lower to trade around 4.700%, while ten-year yields held below 5% at around 4.970%.Oil prices fell in the U.S. morning, reversing earlier gains as prices yo-yo. Traders watch diplomatic efforts to avoid a renewed escalation between the U.S. and Iran, as well as the impact of a fresh round of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Tuesday's Israeli election is in focus. Benchmark Brent crude oil contracts for December delivery fell 1% to trade below $115 a barrel.Gold prices edged toward $4,000 a troy ounce, as a stronger dollar continued to damp gold's prospects. The U.S. dollar index rose 0.2%, while bitcoin slipped below $80,000.For the day ahead, investors will watch the outcome of the Israeli election and the subsequent coalition wrangling closely. Macro releases include U.S. October consumer confidence data and Richmond Fed manufacturing and business conditions data. Visa, Coca-Cola and Boeing are among companies reporting earnings Tuesday.Write to Joe Stonor at [email protected]