U.S. stock index futures edged higher Monday, attempting to recover some ground the previous week’s sharp losses and ahead of a Federal Reserve interest rate decision later in the week.
At 05:25 ET (09:25 GMT), Dow Jones Futures rose 145 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures gained 27 points, or 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 113 points, or 0.5%.
The main averages on Wall Street sank on Friday following a bout of airstrikes between Israel and Iran, raising tensions in the Middle East and denting market sentiment.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, the NASDAQ Composite dropped 1.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1.8%, resulting in all three indices posting losing weeks.
Iran-Israel conflict escalates
Israel and Iran continued to exchange missile strikes over the weekend, and into Monday, ramping up the geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East.
Tehran has told mediators Oman and Qatar that it will not engage in ceasefire talks helmed by the U.S. while Israel is carrying out its strikes, Reuters has reported, citing an official briefed on the matter.
Israel, meanwhile, has warned Iranians living near nuclear facilities to evacuate. The country targeted these locations and other ballistic missile programs in a wave of attacks first launched early on Friday.
However, the conflict does not look like it is spreading wider, so far, and crucially, investors seem to be assuming Iran will not threaten to close the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.