Stock Market Today: Nasdaq 100 Futures Gain, Dow Jones Drops as Iran Receives US Proposal To Restore Ceasefire — CEG, VICR, MU in Focus

U.S. stocks look set to open on a mixed note on Thursday, with futures of the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices falling, while the Nasdaq 100 futures rose, following Wednesday’s mixed close.

Iran announced receiving a U.S. response regarding a proposal to restore the collapsed Gulf ceasefire as final U.S. troops completed their withdrawal from neighboring Iraq, Reuters reported. Iranian-backed militias are framing the military exit—coming 23 years after the initial invasion—as a major regional victory.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 5.33%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.91%, at the last check. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 39.3% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates after its October meeting.

Index	Performance (+/-)
Dow Jones	-0.53%
S&P 500	-0.02%
Nasdaq 100	0.35%
Russell 2000	-0.58%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were mixed in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was down 0.059% at $762.18, while the QQQ advanced 0.26% to $741.72.

Stocks In Focus

Micron Technology

• Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was 0.037% higher in premarket on Thursday after it posted fourth-quarter revenue of $54.23 billion, beating analyst estimates of $50.75 billion, and adjusted earnings of $33.42 per share, beating estimates of $31.45 per share.
• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MU maintains a strong price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a good quality score.

Vicor

• Vicor Corp. (NASDAQ:VICR) surged 12.2% after raising its third-quarter sequential revenue growth guidance.
• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that VICR maintains a strong price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a strong growth score.

Synopsys

• Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) was 2.46% higher after it said that it sees FY2027 adjusted earnings of $19.04 to $19.12 per share, versus market estimates of $17.32 per share.
• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that SNPS maintains a strong price trend in the short term but a weak trend in the medium and long term, with a poor value score.

Constellation Energy

• Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) was 2.94% higher in Thursday premarket after it announced a 20-year power purchase agreement with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) that will add 190 megawatts (MW) of nuclear capacity at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.
• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CEG maintains a weak price trend in the short, long, and medium terms, with a good growth score.

Nike

• Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was 0.40% lower as analysts expect it to post quarterly earnings of $0.44 per share on revenue of $11.33 billion after the closing bell.
• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NKE maintains a weak price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a poor quality score.

Cues From Last Session

Health care, consumer staples, and industrials led S&P 500 sectors lower on Wednesday, while information technology and consumer discretionary logged gains as U.S. stocks settled mixed and the Dow Jones index dropped over 400 points following PCE data.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Dow Jones	-0.86%	50,906.05
S&P 500	-0.25%	7,651.54
Nasdaq Composite	0.24%	26,861.06
Russell 2000	-0.39%	2,796.86

Insights From Analysts

In his market outlook, market strategist Craig Shapiro draws parallels between current economic indicators and the setup leading to Black Monday, framing the market through the lens of an “Echoes of 1987” framework.

Shapiro observes that five out of the six conditions preceding the 1987 crash are active today: rising long-end yields, reduced foreign demand for U.S. Treasuries, an inflating economy, stretched stock valuations, and automated selling mechanisms.

He notes that “October 1987 was a configuration, not a single shock,” warning that today’s primary missing component is a falling U.S. dollar coupled with rising long yields.

Rather than predicting an immediate stock market collapse, Shapiro outlines a scenario where macro pressures continue to build. He highlights a growing internal divergence: “The economy is splitting in two. AI-driven activity is booming, while the labor differential and consumer confidence have fallen to their weakest levels in years.”

While modern circuit breakers make a single-day crash unlikely, Shapiro assigns a 40% probability to a “continued grinding repricing” in equities and a 20% chance to a “correlated deleveraging with a dollar reversal,” which he views as the closest modern equivalent to 1987.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on Thursday.

• Initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 26 will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
• September’s U.S. manufacturing PMI data will be out by 9:45 a.m., and September’s ISM manufacturing PMI alongside August’s construction spending data will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.

Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude Oil WTI futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 2.18% to hover around $92.39 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.03% to hover around $4,158.45 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.29% lower at the 101.7480 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.3% higher at $83,562 per coin over the last 24 hours.

Asian markets were mixed on Thursday, as Australia’s ASX 200 and India’s Nifty 50 indices fell. South Korea’s Kospi, China’s CSI 300, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 indices rose. European markets were lower in early trading.

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