Stock Futures at the Mercy of Volatile Oil Once More

Stock futures are indicating a lower open, but not quite at the magnitude investors have grown accustomed to this month. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX), and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are all modestly in the red, still reeling from Monday's whipsaw price action. Front-month oil is back above $90 after a sharp pullback overnight, after the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, indicated on social media the country was not seeking a ceasefire. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in a briefing on Iran, said today will be 'the most intense day of strikes.' 

• Schaeffer's V.P. of Research Todd Salamone lays out his VIX scenarios.
• Retail stock's earnings is drawing options traders.
• Plus, HPE's pivot; air taxi's buzzing; and Oracle on the move before earnings.

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange saw 2 million call contracts and roughly 1.3 million put contracts traded on Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio slipped to 0.64, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.59. 
2. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) stock is 1.9% lower ahead of the bell, even after the tech titan reported a fiscal first-quarter top-line beat and raised its full-year outlook. Contributing to losses is a smaller-than-expected quarterly revenue. Three analysts have hiked their price targets in response, while Raymond James trimmed its target to $30 from $31. HPE is 9.2% lower in 2026.
3. Joby Aviation Inc (NYSE:JOBY) stock is up 3.2% before the open, after the Transportation Department selected the company to participate in its Air Taxi testing program. JOBY is down 24% year to date but is a ways off its April 7, annual low of $4.96. 
4. The shares of Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) are up 1.1% in electronic trading, rising ahead of the software company's fourth-quarter earnings report, due out after the close today. Oracle stock is brushing off a price-target cut from Baird to $200 from $300, but is 22.2% lower on the year.
5. All eyes are on this week's inflation data.

Overseas Stocks Bounce Back

Investors in Asia enjoyed a reprieve from Middle East tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the war with Iran would be over soon, triggering a pullback in oil prices. Markets are in recovery mode in response, with an added boost coming from travel stocks. For the session, Japan’s Nikkei added 2.9%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.2%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%, and South Korea’s Kospi paced the winners with a 5.4% pop.

Sentiment is upbeat in Europe as well. Airlines are an outperforming sector, while focus remains on the virtual Group of Seven nation’s virtual meeting this morning regarding oil reserves, though no decision was announced yet. A post-earnings surge from Volkswagen is giving German markets a lift as well, the region’s DAX up 2.1% at last check. London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 are both up 1.5%.