Before the bell: Nasdaq futures fall 0.5% as chips slide again and WTI jumps 2.5% to $102.86

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a soft open Tuesday, led lower by semiconductors. On the Chronicle markets board at 6:31 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures were at 7,694.6, down 0.14%, Nasdaq-100 futures at 29,432.6, down 0.51%, and Dow futures at 52,102.9, up 0.11%. CNBC described futures as mixed, with Micron and Sandisk each down more than 2% and Seagate, Intel and AMD down more than 1% in early trading. We covered Monday's chip bounce; this morning is giving some of it back.

Asia sets the tone

CNBC reported that South Korea's Kospi fell 3.73% to 5,552.74, with SK Hynix down 4.23% and Samsung Electronics down 2.98%, and Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.3%. In Europe the Stoxx 600 Technology index was down 1.4% in early London trading. Swiss engineering group ABB fell about 6% even after reporting orders up 40% to $12 billion, driven by a triple-digit increase in data center orders, CNBC said. The market is worrying about how AI build-outs are being financed, not about whether demand exists.

Oil jumps, yields sit near highs

WTI crude was at $102.86 a barrel on the board, up 2.5%, and Brent at $113.01, up 2%. CoinDesk pointed to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia keeping supply risk in view. Gold was at $4,118.6 an ounce, down 0.5%, the dollar index at 101.52, down 0.1%, and the dollar at 158.15 yen.

The Treasury's official Monday closes were 5.15% on the 10-year, up from 5.09% on Friday, 4.77% on the 2-year and 5.48% on the 30-year. The Fed meets October 28; see our look at where officials stand.

On the calendar and in earnings

Building permits are the one U.S. data release on our economic calendar today, forecast at 1.388 million against 1.394 million previously. Thursday brings jobless claims, forecast at 200,000.

CoinDesk noted roughly 70 S&P 500 companies report this week, with General Motors before the bell and United Airlines after the close. Northrop Grumman reported third-quarter earnings of $7.89 a share against an LSEG estimate of $7.18, with revenue of $11.12 billion just under the $11.14 billion consensus, CNBC reported.

Who feels the diesel number

The Agriculture Department announced $8 billion of one-time Harvest Fuel Relief payments to farmers, OilPrice.com reported, citing the department's release. The same article put U.S. diesel at $6.3187 a gallon on Monday, up from $6.2665 a week earlier. The relief covers farmers only. A truck burning 100 gallons a day now spends about $632 on fuel, and each further $1 a gallon adds $100 a day, or about $2,600 over 26 working days (our arithmetic). Independent haulers, delivery fleets and contractors with their own trucks get no payment.

24,679 independent trucking and freight are listed on CheckThisBiz, a directory of 7,704,724 independent US businesses, including 2,868 in TX, 2,828 in CA, 1,916 in FL. Chains and franchises are excluded from that count, so these are the owner-operated businesses that actually apply for funding.

Policy and crypto

The Department of Homeland Security made public an order, issued July 24, barring DeepSeek technology from federal civilian agency systems and procurement, CNBC reported. The Defense Department is excluded, and agencies can seek exceptions within 60 days.

Bitcoin was $81,483 on Coinbase at 6:32 a.m., down about 1.0% from its 24-hour open of $82,331. Ether was $2,383, down 1.7%. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $526.7 million Monday, their largest day since September 22, led by BlackRock's IBIT at $665.2 million, Cointelegraph reported from Farside data. The funds are still about $88 million negative for October. CoinDesk said Deribit puts outtraded calls by more than two to one. Live prices: crypto prices.

Sources: Chronicle markets board (quotes at 6:31 a.m. ET, may be delayed), U.S. Treasury, CNBC, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, OilPrice.com, Coinbase Exchange, CheckThisBiz business counts. Diesel payment arithmetic is ours and illustrative. Premarket prices move quickly and early volume is thin. This is market information, not investment advice.