Stock futures are selling off across the board this morning, with Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures indicating triple-digit moves lower. Inflation fears from yesterday have merged with renewed panic over oil, as front-month Brent crude rises to to nearly $115 per barrel. Aggression in the Middle East is ramping up; last night, Israel hit Iran's valuable South Pars gas field, with Iran retaliating by attacking Qatari energy grids. Stateside, investors are contending with a subpar post-earnings reaction from semiconductor giant Micron Technology (MU).
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- Which stock will win the Market Madness dance?
- Plus, Micron drags memory stocks; DLO perks up; and drone stock grounded.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange saw roughly 1.8 million call contracts and 1.6 million put contracts traded on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio spiked to 0.90, while the 21-day moving average rose at 0.60.
- Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) stock is down 2.9% ahead of the open, as flash memory names across the board sink after Micron's report. STX is up nearly 48% in 2026 and hit a record high of $459.84 on Feb. 12.
- dLocal Ltd (NASDAQ:DLO) stock is up 9.6% before the bell, after the Uruguay-based fintech company delivered a top-line beat for the fourth quarter to go with a hiked forecast. DLO is nursing a 19% year-to-date deficit heading into today, but is 31% higher in the last 12 months.
- Red Cat Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:RCAT) shares are 3.8% lower in electronic trading, after the drone maker's wider-than-expected fourth-quarter losses cast a shadow on its year-over-year surge in revenue. Needham hiked its price target to $20 from $16, though, and Red Cat stock is already up 114% in 2026.
- Take a look at what's on deck for this week's economic schedule.
Central Banks in Japan, England Keep Rates Steady
Asian markets gapped lower on Thursday, mirroring stateside losses. Japan’s Nikkei shed 3.4%, after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) kept interest rates unchanged at 0.75%. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi fell 2.7% as semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix cooled, while finance minister Koo Yun-Cheol expressed caution over the foreign exchange market. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 2% and 1.4%, respectively.
Attacks on energy infrastructure in Iran and Qatar are weighing on European stocks today, with investors also digesting the Bank of England (BoE) move to maintain interest rates steady at 3.75%. The European Central Bank (ECB) will also deliver its monetary policy decision later today. At last glance, Germany’s DAX is down 2.5%, London’s FTSE 100 has shed 2.2%, and France’s CAC 40 is 1.8% lower.
