U.S. equity futures fall in pre-market trading as oil, gold retreat from highs

Oil and gold pulled back after surging on the breakout of hostilities in Iran, while equities and crypto stocks face pressure.

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What to know:

• WTI crude briefly hit $75 before easing, gold climbed above $5,400 to near record levels and then retreated, and volatility gauges VIX and MOVE jumped by more than 10%.
• U.S. equity index futures declined, with the Nasdaq 100-tracking QQQ exchange-traded fund losing 1.5%
• Bitcoin held above $66,000 in a divergence from its software-stock correlation, even as crypto-related equities traded lower.

U.S. equities fell in pre-market trading after the U.S. and Israel entered into conflict with Iran over the weekend.

The Invesco QQQ exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, declined 1.5%, though early losses have started to moderate, suggesting that initial concerns may have been somewhat overstated.

A Saudi Arabia oil refinery was hit by Iran's response, pushing WTI crude oil as high as $75 per barrel. It was recently trading below $72, though remains 8% higher over the past 24 hours.

Gold rallied more than 2% in the past day to $5,400 per ounce, putting it within reach of its all-time high near $5,600 as investors sought traditional haven assets. It also drew back following an initial surge.

Bitcoin BTC$66,195.42 has held up, trading above $66,000 and gaining about 1% over the past 24 hours. This marks a modest divergence from its recent correlation with software stocks, as the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) is down around 1%.

Among crypto-related equities, Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly traded corporate holder of bitcoin, is little changed. Crypto-exchange Bullish (BLSH), CoinDesk's parent company, is down 4%, while AI-focused miners Cipher Digital (CIFR) and IREN (IREN) are both lower by about 3%. Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) is down 2%.

The conflict pushed the U.S. dollar index (DXY) higher to 98.2. At the same time, both the S&P 500 volatility index (VIX), and the U.S. bond market volatility index (MOVE), are up by more than 10%, reflecting elevated market uncertainty.

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