AI Optimism Drives Wall Street Gains Amid Oil Price Concerns

Wall Street's main stock indexes are set to open higher on Friday as AI optimism offsets concerns about high oil prices and rising Treasury yields. The Dow E-minis were up 140 points, or 0.27%, and S&P 500 E-minis were up 21.25 points, or 0.27%, while Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 142.25 points, or 0.46%. The AI-related optimism is driven by traction among young consumers for Meta's Muse application and its integrated device, Charm.

Akamai Technologies surged 12% after an $11.6 billion cloud services deal with AI leader Anthropic. Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell, and Cerebras rose more than 1% each to lead premarket gains. Megacaps Tesla, Nvidia, and SpaceX also edged up.

The market sentiment is also boosted by a report that US and Iranian negotiators continued to explore a phased path out of the war, which would involve Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its economic blockade. However, inflation worries driven by prolonged Iran and Ukraine conflicts and soaring government debt cap optimism.