Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on May 4, 2026 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Thursday, shrugging off renewed tensions in the Middle East after President Donald Trump warned Iran would be bombed “at a much higher level” if it failed to agree to a peace deal.
His fresh threats came as reports suggested Washington and Tehran were nearing an agreement to end the war.
The president in a Truth Social post said the U.S. military offensive known as Operation Epic Fury “will be at an end” if Iran “agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption.”
If that happened, the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman would “allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran,” Trump wrote.
West Texas Intermediate futures for June was 0.92% higher at $95.95 per barrel as of 7:19 p.m. ET.
In Australia, futures last traded at 8,892 while the S&P/ASX 200‘s closed at 8,793.6.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 26,423 compared with the index’s last close of 26,213.78.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was also set to open higher after a holiday. The futures contract in Chicago was at 62,015 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 62,190 against the index’s last close of 59,513.12.
U.S. stock futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both slid about 0.1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35 points, or less than 0.1%.
Overnight in the U.S., stocks rose following developments in the Middle East.
The S&P 500 advanced 1.46% to 7,365.12, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.02% and ended at 25,838.94. Both indexes touched new highs and closed at records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 612.34 points, or 1.24%, to close at 49,910.59.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
