US futures leaned higher into the open, but the mood stays fragile: the single biggest driver is the fallout from Alphabet's and Tesla's ballooning AI spending, which helped wipe nearly $800 billion off the "Magnificent Seven" on Thursday — their worst day since April 2025 — even as a fresh round of US tariffs took effect overnight.

Futures now

Per Yahoo Finance, Dow futures were up ~0.44%, S&P 500 futures +0.20% (7,460), and Nasdaq-100 futures hovered just above flat (+0.04%); the Russell 2000 added 0.20% and the VIX sat near 18.9. That steadying follows Thursday's cash-session drop: the Dow fell 506.93 pts (-0.97%) to 51,711.65, the S&P lost 1.21% to 7,408.30, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 2.15% to 25,137.69.

Pre-market movers

• Intel (INTC) ~+4% — the rare AI winner. Q2 blew past estimates: EPS $0.38 vs $0.21 expected, revenue $16.1B vs ~$14.4B, with Data Center & AI revenue up 59%. It also raised its 2026 capex plan to $20B (CNBC, Yahoo Finance).
• Alphabet (GOOGL) ~-4% and Tesla (TSLA) ~-5% extend Thursday's 7% and 14% routs after both flagged surging AI capex and negative Q2 free cash flow — the spark for the whole sell-off.

Earnings today

American Express (AXP), Verizon (VZ) and NextEra Energy (NEE) headline Friday's reports — Amex offers a read on the US consumer, Verizon on telco capex.

Macro today

A light data day with two releases. S&P Global flash PMIs for July land at 9:45am ET — the composite is seen holding in expansion (June was 51.9) with manufacturing forecast to rebound toward the mid-50s; a beat would ease growth worries, a miss feeds stagflation talk given firm oil. New Home Sales (June) follow at 10:00am ET. No jobs, CPI, PCE or Fed on the tape today — but the FOMC meets next week.

Rates, dollar & commodities

The US 10-year yield sits at ~4.71% (Trading Economics) — a fourth straight rise and its highest since January 2025 — as the oil spike stokes inflation fears. Strikingly, markets now price a >33% chance of a rate hike at next week's FOMC and >78% for September. Brent crude eased ~2% to below $99 after tagging $100 (Yahoo Finance); gold held roughly flat near $4,054.

Overnight

Asia took the brunt: South Korea's KOSPI fell over 5% (triggering sidecar curbs) and Japan's Nikkei lost more than 2% on the chip/AI sell-off plus oil. European bourses were steadier as crude cooled.

What to watch at the open

Watch whether Intel's AI beat can put a floor under chip sentiment while Alphabet and Tesla keep leaking. The 9:45am PMIs and the 10-year's grind toward 4.75% are the swing factors — a fresh leg higher in yields would pressure the very megacaps already under strain.

As of 9:15am ET, Fri Jul 24, 2026. Sources: Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Trading Economics, FXStreet. Automated US market brief for discussion and education only — not investment advice. Verify before acting.