Stock futures advanced on Wednesday, coinciding with a bustling day of corporate earnings reports. Technology shares experienced an uptick following chip-equipment manufacturer ASML’s upward revision of its sales forecast, driven by surging demand for AI technologies. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 indicated an increase of 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively, in the latest trading session. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average exhibited minimal movement, remaining close to unchanged. Shares of ASML rose nearly 4% before the bell after the Dutch firm lifted its sales forecast for the second time this year. CEO Christophe Fouquet stated that “ongoing AI-related investments and continued progress in AI technologies are driving demand for advanced Logic and Memory chips, further strengthening the semiconductor industry’s growth outlook.” The stock contributed to a 1.5% increase in the iShares Semiconductor ETF, while another component, Intel, experienced a 2.5% rise.

Yesterday, the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow experienced gains following a June Consumer Price Index reading that was milder than anticipated. However, IBM shares constrained these gains as the company reported preliminary results that fell significantly short of expectations. IBM sank 25% yesterday after CEO Arvind Krishna cautioned in a letter to investors that the tech giant’s second-quarter software and infrastructure results fell short of expectations as clients redirected spending ‘toward servers, storage and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of anticipated price increases’. Shares indicated an increase of approximately 1% in premarket trading.

PayPal shares soared 20% in premarket trading following a report that Stripe and private-equity company Advent made a more than $53 billion offer to buy the payments firm. In the aftermath of earnings announcements, Elevance Health experienced a decline of 7%, Johnson & Johnson saw a decrease of 1.5%, BlackRock recorded an increase of 5%, and Morgan Stanley rose by 2%. The performance of the Magnificent Seven mega-cap tech stocks exhibited a mixed trend, with minimal fluctuations observed. Nvidia shares edged lower after leading the septet with a 4% gain yesterday. U.S.-listed shares of South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix, which soared 27% Tuesday, pointed 6% lower.

Oil prices experienced a modest increase following a statement from U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, on X indicating that “forces began launching a wave of strikes against Iran. The strikes are designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.” Recent movements in West Texas Intermediate futures indicate an increase of 0.6%, reaching $79.80 a barrel, while Brent crude futures have risen by 0.7%, now at $85.30 a barrel. The 10-year Treasury yield, a key determinant of interest rates across various consumer loans such as mortgages, stood at 4.61%, reflecting an increase of two basis points from Tuesday’s close. Bitcoin was trading around 64,600, little changed over the past 24 hours. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the value of the greenback relative to a selection of foreign currencies, increased by 0.1% to 100.97. Gold futures experienced a decline of 0.6%, settling at $4,045 per ounce.