Finance

Technology and semiconductor shares advanced in early trading, spearheaded by a significant revenue projection from artificial intelligence leader Anthropic ahead of its planned initial public offering. The optimistic forward-looking guidance bolstered broader megacap growth stocks, with notable premarket increases seen in shares of Amazon, Alphabet, Micron, and Broadcom.

Wall Street is preparing for a highly anticipated slate of financial updates from major big-box retailers this week, including Home Depot, Target, Lowe's, and Walmart. The upcoming corporate reports are expected to provide critical insights into consumer spending habits and discretionary resilience. This focus intensifies following recent data that revealed an unexpected decline in July retail sales.

Crude oil benchmarks remained highly sensitive to escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East as stalling diplomatic efforts between the United States and Iran threatened energy corridors. Continued friction near the vital Strait of Hormuz has kept market participants wary of potential transit bottlenecks, helping to buoy international Brent crude and domestic West Texas Intermediate prices.