Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on June 26, 2026. <\/p>\n
NYSE<\/p>\n
U.S. stock futures edged lower early Friday after a strong Wall Street session that put the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite on track for weekly gains, while Asian technology stocks rallied Friday, tracking overnight strength in U.S. chipmakers.<\/p>\n
S&P 500 futures<\/a> and Nasdaq 100 futures<\/a> declined 0.11% and 0.1%, respectively. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures<\/a> were flat. <\/p>\n Wall Street is coming off a winning session. The Nasdaq Composite<\/a> rose 1.3% on Thursday, while the S&P 500<\/a> gained 0.8%. The 30-stock Dow<\/a> also closed higher by 0.3%. <\/p>\n Stocks rallied, aided by cooling oil prices<\/a> after President Donald Trump said that Iran called to make a deal<\/a>. Qatar and Pakistan are trying to bring Washington and Tehran back into negotiations, officials from the countries told MS Now. <\/p>\n Asia-Pacific markets opened higher Friday, with South Korean equities leading gains in the region.<\/p>\n South Korea’s Kospi<\/a> jumped 4.6%, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 5.9%. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225<\/a> rose 1.5%, and the Topix added 0.5%. Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a>\u00a0gained 0.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.86%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 0.4%.<\/p>\n A rally in chipmakers helped bolster the major U.S. averages, with many investors remaining hopeful that strong earnings growth can help the stock market broaden out beyond tech and continue its upward advance.<\/p>\n The positive sentiment spilled over into Asian technology shares. Japan’s SoftBank Group surged more than 11%, while chip equipment makers Advantest, Renesas Electronics and Tokyo Electron rose 3.9%, 3% and 4%, respectively.<\/p>\n In South Korea, Samsung Electronics gained 4.3%, Samsung SDI climbed 8.3%, LG Display advanced 4.4% and Seoul Semiconductor rose 5.9%. Memory chipmaker SK Hynix added 1.3% ahead of its U.S. market debut Friday stateside.<\/p>\n “I think it continues to be an earnings-led market,” Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Thursday. “Everybody’s looking for reasons to worry about it, whether it’s AI fatigue or whatever. But the reality is, you can’t beat earnings as long as they keep going up.” <\/p>\n Investors are awaiting the U.S. listing of SK Hynix on Friday. The South Korea chipmaker, which exploded higher this year on the massive demand for memory, is pricing its American depository receipts at $149 each, according to Bloomberg<\/a>, which cited a person familiar.<\/p>\n