Opening Comment — Friday, June 12, 2026
DJIA: 50,848.75, up 929.97
S&P 500: 7,394.30, up 127.31
NASDAQ: 25,809.66, up 640.16
Stocks higher to end out week
Stock futures are higher Friday morning following renewed hopes for a ceasefire extension between the U.S. and Iran and ahead of today’s preliminary June reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan. Investors are also preparing for trading to begin for the world’s large initial public offering. As of 7:21 AM ET, the Dow is rising 0.6%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.5%. The Nasdaq 100 is also increasing 0.5% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were higher on Thursday following President Donald Trump announcing that he had called off planned attacks on Iran. The headline Producer Price Index (PPI) for May showed higher-than-expected increases of 1.1% month-over-month (MOM) and 6.5% year-over-year (YOY), while the core PPI registered softer-than-projected increases in May, rising by 0.4% MOM and 4.9% YOY, with both headline and core measures reflecting downward revisions to the prior month’s readings. Both initial jobless claims and continuing claims rose. The Federal Reserve’s measure of household net worth for the first quarter showed a modest increase of $113 billion, following a downwardly revised gain of $1.73 trillion in the prior quarter. The Dow was up 1.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 2.5%. The S&P 500 increased 1.8% with eight of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Materials sector was the top performer, rising 3.3%, while the Energy sector was the bottom performer, falling 2.1%.
Technical Analysis:
As of midday Thursday, the trend for the S&P 500 remains higher. Resistance is at the recent high of 7,621, with support at the 50-day and 200-day moving averages of 7,229 and 6,877, respectively.
On the data front, the University of Michigan’s preliminary June reading of consumer sentiment is forecasted to come in at 46.0, higher than the prior month’s 44.8. The one- and 5-10-year inflation expectations for June from the University of Michigan are expected to come in at 4.9% and 3.8%, respectively, compared to the prior month’s 4.8% and 3.9%, respectively.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as the U.K.’s gross domestic product declined by 0.1% MOM in April. The country’s April industrial production showed little change MOM and the Index of Services fell 0.2% MOM, while the trade deficit narrowed less than expected in April. The finalized May Consumer Price Index for France and Germany remained unchanged from the initial readings of 2.4% and 2.6% YOY, respectively.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were higher as Japan’s capacity utilization declined by 0.8% MOM in April. Meanwhile, the country’s finalized April industrial production was revised lower, with output rising 0.5% MOM and 2.0% YOY.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is slightly lower ahead of next week’s slew of central bank meetings.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 3.4% lower at $84.72/barrel, on course to end the week lower following this week’s Iran war developments.
In the metals complex, gold is little changed at $4,211.03/ounce.