Early Look

Monday, June 23, 2025

U.S. futures erase overnight losses, taking the news of the U.S. striking against nuclear targets in Iran in stride while oil futures edge higher. On Saturday night, American B-2 bombers struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, putting the US directly into Tehran’s war with Israel despite President Donald Trump’s longtime promises to avoid new conflicts. President Trump addressed the nation at 10:00 pm et on Saturday night saying U.S. planes dropped bombs on Fordow, a uranium-enrichment site buried deep under a mountain and seen as vulnerable only to “bunker buster” munitions that the US possesses. Natanz and Isfahan, two other sites, were also struck. Trump threatened “far greater” attacks if Iran doesn’t make peace, noting there were other targets. With the US having bomber Iran nuclear sites over the weekend and Iran vowing retaliation, everyone is now waiting to see its next move. The more than 4% spike in crude prices overnight is now unwinding as jitters about disruption to energy supplies ease and after a knee-jerk reaction lower Sunday night, U.S. futures are edging higher this morning. As for last week, markets were quiet as the S&P 500 fell -0.15%, the Nasdaq climbed 0.21%, and the Dow climbed 0.02%. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -49 points to 38,354, the Shanghai Index rose 21 points to 3,381, the Hang Seng Index climbed 158 points to 23,689. In Europe, the German DAX is down -100 points to 23,251, while the FTSE 100 is little changed at 8,772. Coming up this week outside of the geopolitical headlines, Chairman Powell’s testimony before the House and Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday headlines along with a relatively heavy calendar of Fed speak for the week ahead. This week, earning’s from package delivery giant Fed-Ex (FDX), chip company Micron (MU) and retailer Nike (NKE).

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.16 points, or 0.08%, to 42,206.82
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -98.86 points, or 0.51%, to 19,447.41
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -3.70 points, or 0.18% to 2,109.27

• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Services PMI, June-flash…est. 53.0
• 9:45 AM ET S&P Global Composite PMI, June-flash
• 10:00 AM ET                Existing Home Sales M/M for May…est. 3.97M

• Earnings After the Close: KBH

• DoorDash (DASH) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James and raised tgt to $260 from $215.
• Estee Lauder (EL) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank due to increasing evidence that the firm is diversifying beyond China for future growth.
• Li Auto (LI) said it will introduce a new electric SUV in September.
• Mitsubishi Motors (MMTOF) plans to invest $3.9B to boost solar power generation in the U.S., Masaki Kondo of Bloomberg reports, citing Nikkei newspaper.

• Commercial airlines around the world on Monday were weighing how long to suspend Middle East flights after the U.S. struck Iran. Singapore Airlines had called the situation “fluid” on Sunday as it cancelled flights from Singapore to Dubai following a security assessment.
• Two supertankers both capable of hauling about 2 million barrels of crude U-turned in the Strait of Hormuz after US airstrikes on Iran raised the risk of a response that will ensnare commercial shipping in the region. The Coswisdom Lake and South Loyalty both entered the waterway and abruptly changed course on Sunday, according to vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The two empty freighters then sailed south, away from the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
• In the solar sector (FSLR, ENPH, SEDG, RUN, ARRY), President Trump said on Truth Social Sunday, “I HATE “GREEN TAX CREDITS” IN THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL. They are largely a giant SCAM. I would much prefer that this money be used somewhere else, including reductions. “Anywhere” would be preferable! Windmills, and the rest of this “JUNK,” are the most expensive and inefficient energy in the world, is destroying the beauty of the environment, and is 10 times more costly than any other energy. None of it works without massive government subsidy (energy should NOT NEED SUBSIDY!). Also, it is almost exclusively made in China!!! It is time to break away, finally, from this craziness!!!” posted on June 21^st.
• FMC (FMC) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo and raised its tgt to $50 from $41.

• Equifax (EFX) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank America and cut tgt to $285 from $300 saying they were “underwhelmed” by the company’s investor day, reduced its 2025 and 2026 adjusted EPS estimates to $7.58 and $8.91 from $7.63 and $9.22, respectively.
• Evercore (EVR) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley and raised tgt to $312 from $175.
• Shift4 (FOUR) has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Smartpay for NZ$296.4 million, or NZ$1.20 per share.
• State Street Corp (STT) files for mixed shelf; size not disclosed.

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) and Ono Pharmaceutical (OPHLY) announced an exclusive collaboration and license agreement for the development and commercialization of Vertex’s povetacicept in Japan and South Korea.

• Wolfspeed (WOLF) announced that, as part of its efforts to proactively strengthen its capital structure, it entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement with key lenders, including holders of more than 97% of its senior secured notes, Renesas Electronics Corporation’s wholly owned U.S. subsidiary and convertible debtholders holding more than 67% of the outstanding convertible notes.