US stock market today: S&P 500, Nasdaq futures slide as US-Iran tensions flare; Brent jumps 8%

US stock futures, including the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, declined as tensions between the US and Iran escalated, contributing to heightened geopolitical risk. This risk appetite shift is reflected in the surge of Brent crude oil prices, which rose by 8%, indicating concerns over potential supply disruptions in the oil market. Energy stocks and commodities are particularly exposed due to their direct correlation with oil prices and geopolitical stability in the Middle East. Traders will be closely watching for any further developments in US-Iran relations or official statements that could impact market sentiment and oil supply forecasts.

The Nasdaq-100 (NDX) is the US large-cap tech benchmark. NDX is more sensitive to rate decisions than SPX because of longer-duration cash flows, and heavily concentrated in Tech/Comms names — mega-cap earnings season dominates price action.

HIGH-impact news is typically a market-moving event with multi-pip or multi-percent intraday reactions. Examples include central bank rate decisions, major CPI/NFP releases, geopolitical shocks, mega-cap earnings beats/misses, and regulatory announcements. Traders typically position-reduce or hedge ahead of scheduled HIGH-impact events, and follow the wire in real time to react to unscheduled ones (war headlines, central-bank emergency statements, surprise corporate actions). The Trading News Terminal squawk box reads every HIGH-impact headline aloud the moment it hits the wire — so active traders don't have to stare at the feed.

Active traders typically follow a three-step workflow when a market-moving headline hits the wire: (1) read the headline on the terminal or hear it on the squawk box; (2) assess whether the news is already priced in (by checking intraday price action in the seconds before) or whether it's genuinely new information; (3) act — either entering a breakout position, fading an overreaction, or tightening stops on existing trades. Trading News Terminal's Pro plan delivers wire-grade headlines within seconds of the source, with automatic audio squawk on every HIGH-impact event, so the read-assess-act cycle never waits on a refresh button.