Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., June 3, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
U.S. equity futures were mixed early Wednesday as investors await earnings reports from megacap technology companies and a rate policy decision from the Federal Reserve due Wednesday.
S&P 500 futures inched higher and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.5%. Dow futures were 0.2% lower.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1.38% while the Topix rose 0.23%. South Korea’s Kospi surged 6.57%, and the tech-focused, small-cap Kosdaq rose 3.09%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was marginally higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.43%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 0.68%.
In Tuesday’s regular U.S. trading, the major averages ended the session higher. Chip stocks rose again, this time powered by an announcement from Broadcom that a group of banks would provide $63 billion in financing to buy the company’s chips and networking solutions to be leased to Anthropic, the company behind Claude. Broadcom rose 4%, while Advanced Micro Devices climbed 5.5% and Micron Technology rose 2.8%.
Those moves led the Nasdaq Composite to rise 1.2% on the session.
Stocks were also supported by lower oil prices, which fell following news that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei met with the nation’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei to discuss conditions for ending the war with the U.S.
On Wednesday, though, focus will turn to domestic monetary policy as the Fed wraps up its two-day policy meeting. The central bank is widely predicted to keep interest rates steady at a target rate range of 3.75% to 4%. Policymakers raised rates by a quarter percentage point at their September meeting.
According to CME’s FedWatch tool, there’s a roughly 92% chance that the Fed maintains the current interest rate, but some expect that Chairman Kevin Warsh will signal that more hikes are coming in future policy meetings. The decision on interest rates will be announced at 2:00 p.m. ET.
After the bell on Wednesday, though, investors will turn their focus to the AI trade, as “Magnificent Seven” giants Alphabet and Microsoft will kick off Big Tech earnings.
Tech stocks, particularly those with exposure to the AI buildout, have struggled in recent weeks amid questions over the technology’s financing. However, Morgan Stanley’s chief U.S. equity strategist, Mike Wilson, thinks that the recent recovery in tech stocks is a sign that trend may be nearing its end.
“Most of the correction is already over,” he said in an appearance on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday. “We’ve been in correction mode for four or five months…. the market I think has digested this very efficiently.”
Labubu-maker Pop Mart’s shares extend declines as third-quarter sales plunge
Shares of Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, known for its popular Labubu dolls, added to their more than 30% decline so far this year, following a sharp decline in third-quarter revenue.
Shares were last down under 2%, paring losses after declining more than 6% in early trading Wednesday. They have ended in the red in nine of the past 12 sessions.
The company reported a 45% to 50% year-on-year drop in third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, according to a filing.
—Jenny Lee
Korea Exchange briefly halts Kospi trading as stocks jump
The Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar on the Kospi, temporarily halting program trading, as South Korean stocks surged.
A buy-side sidecar is triggered when the Kospi 200 futures index rises 5% or more for at least one minute, stopping trading for 5 minutes.
The Kospi was last up 4.8%.
—Justina Lee
SK Hynix shares jump as chipmaker’s third-quarter profit sharply beats estimates
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix on Wednesday posted a record high quarterly profit, sharply beating estimates, and announced over $25 billion in dividends and buybacks, sending shares more than 3% higher.
SK Hynix posted record quarterly revenue and operating profit, with sales exceeding 100 trillion won for the first time, as it announced plans to return about 100 trillion won to shareholders — including at least 30 trillion won in cash dividends and 60 trillion won in share buybacks and cancellations.
The chipmaker approved a third-quarter dividend of 14 trillion won, including a special dividend funded by gains from its investment in Kioxia. The company will also buyback 20 trillion won in shares, half of which will be cancelled this year.
—Jenny Lee
Japan’s Nikkei adds 0.7%, South Korea’s Kospi advances over 2%
Asia-Pacific markets traded higher early Wednesday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added over 0.74% while the Topix rose 0.32%.
The Kospi gained 2.06% at open, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 1.78%.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.84% higher.
—Justina Lee
Asia-Pacific markets set to open higher, tracking Wall Street gains
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Wednesday, tracking U.S. stocks that rose on optimism around AI stocks, while a slide in oil prices also lifted market sentiment.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was poised to gain, with the Chicago futures contract at 64,410 and its Osaka counterpart last trading at 64,420, compared with the index’s previous close of 63,268.37.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 23,093, compared with the index’s last close of 23,041.32.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.27% in early trade.
Crude oil prices fell for the second straight session Tuesday, helped by a renewed diplomatic push to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East.
—Justina Lee
Oracle rallies Tuesday on expanded collaboration with ChatGPT
Oracle rallied 3.6% on Tuesday as it took steps to integrate ChatGPT and Codex into apps and expand its cloud chip lineup.
Oracle is adding OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Codex to its application stack, extending enterprise access to OpenAI tools. Mahesh Thiagarajan, Oracle’s president of Cloud Infrastructure, told CNBC at Oracle AI World in Las Vegas that using ChatGPT “allows anybody to build an application, deploy it, manage it.”
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure will add Google TPUs, OpenAI’s Jalapeño chip and Cerebras hardware as customers seek more silicon options. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is set to join Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk for a keynote at Oracle AI World.
Oracle shares are down 33% in 2026, and off about 54% over the past 12 months.
Oracle shares have slumped more than 50% in the past year
— Scott Schnipper, Seema Mody, Nick Wells
Robinhood, NXP Semiconductor and Seagate among the names making moves after hours
Check out the companies making the biggest moves after hours:
Robinhood — The online trading platform fell almost 5%. Third-quarter revenue came in line with expectations, and the company lowered the high-end of its forecast for full-year 2026 adjusted operating expenses. Average revenue per user in the third quarter came in at $200, versus the StreetAccount consensus estimate of $201.09.
Seagate Technology — Shares sank 6% despite the data storage company reporting an earnings and revenue beat in its fiscal first-quarter financial report, per LSEG. Seagate also delivered better-than-expected guidance for the current quarter.
NXP Semiconductors — The semiconductor manufacturer tumbled 9% after fourth-quarter revenue projections came roughly in line with expectations. NXP sees revenue landing at $3.85 billion, plus or minus $100 million, while the LSEG consensus called for $3.86 billion. Operating income for the period is expected to range from $1.374 billion to $1.442 billion on an adjusted basis, while the FactSet consensus anticipated $1.44 billion.
Read the full list here.
— Davis Giangiulio and Darla Mercado