-- US equity markets were moving higher before the opening bell Thursday as investors monitor the latest developments over a potential peace deal between the US and Iran.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1% each, while the Nasdaq was slightly in the green in premarket activity. The indexes finished Wednesday trading higher, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recording their highest close ever and biggest one-day percentage gains since April 8.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the US has had "very good talks" with Iran over the past 24 hours, but said there's no deadline on when he expects Tehran to respond to a US proposal to end the war, according to CNN.
American and Iranian officials are closing in on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and establish a framework for nuclear negotiations, Axios reported Wednesday, citing sources.
In a separate social media post on Wednesday, Trump said US operations against Iran will be "at an end" if Tehran agrees to US demands. "If they don't agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before," Trump said.
Iran is expected to give mediators its response to the proposal on Thursday, a regional source told CNN.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 2.2% to $93.03 a barrel before the open, while Brent decreased 2.1% to $99.14.
"A deal announcement would move futures further immediately, in fact even the potential of a deal is already triggering a decline in oil prices," Rystad Energy Chief Oil Analyst Paola Rodriguez-Masiu said in remarks emailed to. The physical market's recovery won't be as quick as the futures market predicts, Rodriguez-Masiu said, pointing to a six-to-eight-week lag between the strait reopening and oil flows normalizing.
Treasury yields were down in premarket action, with the two-year rate retreating 2.3 basis points to 3.85% and the 10-year rate off 2 basis points to 4.33%.
Shares of DoorDash (DASH) jumped 10% pre-bell after the food delivery company reported first-quarter earnings ahead of Wall Street's estimates. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) nudged 0.5% lower, while Snap (SNAP) fell 10% following their latest quarterly results.
McDonald's (MCD), Sempra (SRE), Vistra (VST), Datadog (DDOG), Becton Dickinson (BDX), Tapestry (TPR) and US Foods (USFD) report their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Gilead Sciences (GILD), McKesson (MCK), Cloudflare (NET), Airbnb (ABNB), Monster Beverage (MNST) and CoreWeave (CRWV) are scheduled to announce their earnings after the markets close.
Employers in the US announced 83,387 layoffs last month, up 38% from March, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday.
Thursday's economic calendar also has the weekly jobless claims bulletin at 8:30 am.
On Wednesday, ADP data showed that employment in the US private sector grew at its fastest pace in more than a year in April. The government's nonfarm payrolls report is out on Friday.
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is slated to speak at 1 pm, while Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack speaks at 2:05 pm. New York Fed President John Williams' remarks are due at 3:30 pm.
Gold increased 1% to $4,740 per troy ounce, while bitcoin declined 0.7% to $80,844.