US Futures Rise as Oil Eases on Iran Talks; Akamai Up 16% on Anthropic Deal

Sentiment: mixed S&P 500 futures: +0.29%

S&P 500 futures ES=F are up 0.29% to 7,789.75 and Nasdaq futures NQ=F are up 0.51% to 30,923.75 before Friday's open, after Brent crude fell 1.43% to $98.79 on a report that US and Iranian negotiators are discussing a phased deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Akamai AKAM.US is up 15.93% premarket after Anthropic committed $11.6 billion over seven years to Akamai's cloud. The 10-year Treasury yield is up 4.8 basis points to 5.16%, and New York Fed President John Williams said this morning that another rate hike this year is "reasonable".

Overnight drivers

• Oil and Iran: Brent is down 1.43% to $98.79 and WTI is down 1.87% to $92.84. US and Iranian negotiators are discussing a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, with Qatar mediating. A June 17 memorandum on the same terms collapsed into renewed fighting.
• AI spending: Nasdaq futures are up 0.51%, ahead of the S&P's 0.29%. AKAM.US is up 15.93% on the Anthropic contract, Broadcom AVGO.US 1.38%, Micron MU.US 1.14% and Nvidia NVDA.US 0.56%.
• Rates: The 10-year yield is at 5.16%, up 4.8 bps and close to its highest level since 2007. Williams said the Fed must return inflation to 2% "in a timely manner" but did not commit to a hike at the October 27-28 meeting. The Fed raised rates at its September 16-17 meeting.
• Durable goods: August orders were flat at $338.6 billion at 8:30am ET, against a forecast of a 0.3% fall. Orders excluding transportation rose 0.3%. The Census Bureau revised July to +0.9% from +1.1%.

Overnight Asia & Europe

The Nikkei 225 rose 1.30% to 66,364 on 25 September 2026, its fifth straight gain, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.01% to 24,510.

• Nikkei 225: 66,364 (+1.30%)
• Hang Seng: 24,510 (-1.01%)
• STOXX 600: 640.04 (+0.57%)
• DAX: 25,430 (+0.65%)
• FTSE 100: 10,703 (+0.21%)

Markets in mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan shut for holidays. The Hang Seng has now fallen for three straight sessions.

Thursday on Wall Street

The S&P 500 closed at 7,704.13 on 24 September 2026, down 0.02%, one day after it fell 0.75% as the 30-year Treasury yield reached its highest level since 2004.

• S&P 500: 7,704.13 (-0.02%)
• Nasdaq: 26,939.37 (+0.01%)
• Dow: 51,349.98 (-0.31%)
• Russell 2000: 2,835.57 (-0.11%)
• VIX: 15.08 (-3.77% this morning)

The US Dollar Index is down 0.30% to 100.98 this morning, and gold is up 0.92% to $4,337.50 an ounce.

Pre-market movers

• AKAM.US +15.93% to $128.00. Anthropic signed a seven-year, $11.6 billion contract for CPU workloads on Akamai Cloud, with room to add up to $9 billion. Akamai plans about $1.7 billion of extra capital spending in 2026 and gave Anthropic a warrant for up to about 5% of its shares at $111.33.
• PRME.US +10.12% to $3.38 after the FDA cleared Prime Medicine's application to start a Phase 1/2 trial of PM647 in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
• COST.US -0.55% to $891.53. Fiscal fourth-quarter net sales rose 11.2% to $93.9 billion and EPS reached $6.75, which includes a one-off $0.15 benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds.
• SCHL.US -11.57% to $30.80: fiscal first-quarter revenue fell 3.9% and the adjusted loss was wider than expected.
• TWLO.US -4.34% to $286.55 after HSBC cut Twilio to Reduce, citing Meta's Muse AI agent.
• CMCSA.US -2.17% to $21.65. KeyBanc moved Comcast to Underweight on weaker broadband metrics.
• ZS.US -3.79% to $206.50. Ross Tackett becomes chief revenue officer on 1 October, ahead of Zscaler's investor day.

US economic calendar today (ET)

• 8:30am ET: August durable goods orders (released: flat; ex-transportation +0.3%)
• 10:00am ET: University of Michigan consumer sentiment, final September reading (preliminary 47.8, the second lowest on record)
• 2:00pm ET: Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack speaks
• Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid also speaks today

What to watch

• 10-year yield at 5.16%, near its 2007 high, after Williams' comments and a flat durable goods print.
• AKAM.US at the 9:30am ET open after a 15.93% premarket gain on the Anthropic contract.
• The 10:00am ET Michigan sentiment revision against the 47.8 preliminary reading.
• Brent at $98.79 as the US-Iran talks at the UN continue.

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