US STOCKS-US stock index futures rise on Middle East peace hopes, AI optimism

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Futures up: Dow 0.25%, S&P 500 0.32%, Nasdaq 0.81%

- Wall Street futures climbed on Wednesday, buoyed by hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace agreement and unrelenting optimism around artificial intelligence.

The rally, which took the S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC indexes to record highs on Tuesday, showed few signs of easing after Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O forecast second-quarter revenue above expectations, helped by robust demand for its data-center chips.

"Wall Street continues to double down on its bet that the war in the Middle East will not re-escalate and disrupt the market's earnings-driven surge to all-time highs," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

"The signals sent from the United States appear to offer reassurance that it's not interested in renewing hostilities."

U.S. President Donald Trump said "great progress" had been made toward a peace agreement with Iran, while Tehran said it will only accept "a fair and comprehensive agreement."

Oil prices fell for a second consecutive day, with Brent crude futures LCOc1 slipping 3.3%.

The gains reflect rising risk appetite among investors, provided corporate earnings remain strong and hopes for a peace deal stay alive.

But the more the stocks rise, the greater is the chance of a pullback if the diplomatic efforts to end the Iran war derails.

At 4:43 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 rose 126 points, or 0.25%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 gained 23.25 points, or 0.32% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 228 points, or 0.81%.

AMD jumped 18.1% in premarket trading, while rival Intel INTC.O rose 6.1%. Super Micro SMCI.O also jumped 17.7% following a stronger-than-expected forecast for fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted profit.

Alphabet GOOGL.O jumped 1.4%, narrowing the gap with Nvidia NVDA.O in the race to become the biggest company by market value. Nvidia rose 0.44%.

Arm Holdings ARM.O gained 11.3% ahead of its quarterly results.