US STOCKS-Wall St futures gain as AI enthusiasm eases worries over higher oil prices, yields

US stock index futures rose on Friday as AI optimism offset worries regarding high oil prices and rising Treasury yields, while investors monitored chances of an agreement to end the ‌Middle East conflict. Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell , Cerebras and Intel rose over 1% each to lead premarket gains. Megacaps Tesla, Nvidia and SpaceX also edged up.

Akamai Technologies surged 18.5% after an $11.6 billion cloud services deal with AI leader Anthropic. AI-related optimism was driven this week by traction among young consumers for Meta's Muse application and its integrated ‌device, Charm.

Meta shares were set for a fifth straight week of gains — their biggest five-week advance since late January 2023 — putting the social media giant ‌less than 1% away from the $2 trillion market value mark. The stock was flat premarket. At 7:18 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 184 points, or 0.36%, and S&P 500 E-minis were up 29 points, or 0.37%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 211.25 points, or 0.69%.

Communication services, which includes Meta, and tech led weekly gains among S&P 500 sectors. The benchmark index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were ⁠set for weekly ​advances. A report that US and Iranian negotiators ⁠continued to explore a phased path out of the war, which would involve Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its economic blockade, helped market sentiment.

Optimism, however, was capped by inflation ⁠worries driven by prolonged Iran and Ukraine conflicts and soaring government debt. Brent crude prices hovered over $100 a barrel and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was at 5.1%. "While a ​reopening of the Strait would ease commodity price pressures and inflation concerns, it would not eradicate them completely, since the inflation crisis is linked to ⁠refined fuel products rather than only the oil price," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

Traders now see a 71% chance that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates by at least 25 basis ⁠points ​in October, up from around 50% earlier this week, the CME Group's FedWatch Tool showed. Policymakers, including New York Fed President John Williams, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, are likely to echo their restrictive stance on monetary policy when they speak later in the day.

The US-China summit, which ⁠has been closely followed, did not offer any sign of a major breakthrough between the superpowers, other than the extension of their trade truce until January 10. Data ⁠on durable goods for August is due ⁠at 8:30 a.m. ET and a final University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading later in the day.

Among other movers, People jumped 7.2% after a report said MGM Resorts International was discussing a bid for the online services company. Comcast slipped 1.4% after ‌KeyBanc downgraded the media ‌and telecommunications firm to underweight.