US futures point lower about an hour before the open as AI-capex sticker shock from Alphabet and Tesla's Q2 results collides with firmer oil and a 10-year yield near a two-month high, keeping megacap tech on the back foot.

US futures now

Around 4am ET, Nasdaq-100 futures were off roughly 0.7% and Dow and S&P 500 futures down about 0.5%, per Yahoo Finance. That follows Wednesday's flat-to-lower cash close — the S&P 500 finished near 7,499 (-0.14%), the Nasdaq-100 at 28,998 (-0.54%) and the Dow at 52,219, per The Rio Times' market board. The single biggest overnight driver is renewed anxiety over how much Big Tech is committing to AI infrastructure.

Pre-market movers

• Alphabet (GOOGL) fell about 4% pre-market: cloud revenue beat, but management lifted 2026 capex guidance to $195–205B (CNBC, Yahoo Finance).
• Tesla (TSLA) slid roughly 6% — Q2 deliveries of 480,126 topped estimates, but gross margin slipped to 16.8% (below the ~19% Street expected) and Musk flagged a "massive capex year" above $25B (CNBC, Yahoo Finance).
• Chip and AI names — Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom — are in focus on the same spending theme, with Intel in the spotlight ahead of its own report.

Earnings today

Honeywell (HON) reports before the bell (Street near $1.80 EPS). The marquee event lands after the close: Intel's (INTC) Q2, with consensus around $0.10 EPS on ~$14.4B revenue; the stock has roughly doubled year-to-date and options imply a double-digit swing (TradingKey, AlphaStreet).

Macro today

Weekly jobless claims were the headline at 8:30am ET: initial claims fell to 187,000 — the fewest of 2026 — versus a ~212K consensus and a revised 209K prior, with the four-week average down to 207,500 (Quartz, PNC). A labor market this tight argues for the Fed staying patient. Also on the tape: the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (consensus +0.14 vs -0.1 prior) at 8:30am and EIA natural-gas storage at 10:30am. S&P Global's flash July PMIs and June new-home sales come later this week; the FOMC meets July 28–29.

Rates, dollar & commodities

The US 10-year yield sits near 4.66%, close to a two-month high (Rio Times/Trading Economics) — the key pressure on equity valuations. The dollar is firm, with EUR/USD around 1.14. Crude is elevated on Middle East supply jitters, Brent in the low-$90s and WTI near $90. Gold eased about 1.3% to roughly $4,092 as higher yields and the strong dollar bite.

Overnight global context

Asia was mostly higher: Korea's KOSPI surged 4.4% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.3% on AI-chip optimism, while Japan's Nikkei added 0.5%; India's Nifty slipped 0.5%. Europe is softer, with the Stoxx 600 down about 0.6% and France's CAC off roughly 1% (Rio Times board).

What to watch at the open

Watch whether AI-capex anxiety stays contained to Alphabet and Tesla or spreads to other megacaps and chipmakers before Intel's after-hours print. With the 10-year near 4.66% and oil firm, rate-sensitive growth names are the tell. And the unusually low jobless-claims number keeps the "higher-for-longer" narrative alive heading into next week's Fed meeting.

As of 9:16am ET, Thursday, July 23, 2026. Sources: Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Quartz, TradingKey, The Rio Times. Automated US market brief for discussion and education only — not investment advice. Verify before acting.