Middle East Conflict Remains Unclear, Safe-Haven Sentiment Reverses Gains, Three Major US Stock Index Futures Collectively Turn From Gains to Losses. Gold and Silver Slump at One Point

TradingKey - At 8:30 AM ET, U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending February 28 were 213,000, compared to expectations of 215,000.

The three major U.S. stock index futures turned from gains to losses in pre-market trading, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures falling more than 0.5%, S&P 500 futures slipping nearly 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures declining over 0.2%.

Most of the MG7 stocks were under pressure in pre-market trading: Nvidia fell 0.5%, Apple dropped 0.1%, Microsoft fell 0.3%, Tesla declined 0.7%, Amazon shed 0.6%, Google ticked up 0.3%, and Meta fell 0.6%.

Middle East updates:

Previously, Iran announced a ban on vessels from the U.S., Europe, and their allies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, while its deputy foreign minister expressed a willingness to abandon nuclear development in exchange for peace.

According to U.S. media reports on March 4, the U.S. Central Command is requesting additional intelligence personnel from the Pentagon to support potential military operations against Iran that could last at least 100 days.

Russia-Ukraine updates:

On March 5 local time, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia remains open to negotiations on the Ukraine issue and looks forward to the next round of talks. He noted that the current pause in the negotiation process is due to objective reasons.

Impacted by this news, gold prices turned from gains to losses, at one point falling more than 1%, while silver followed suit.