Equity Futures Up Pre-Bell, Oil Falls as Traders Weigh US-Iran Truce Potential

07:49 AM EDT, 09/25/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The benchmark US equity measures were tracking in the green before the open Friday, while oil prices declined as traders assess the possibility of a truce between Washington and Iran in the near future. The SP 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% each in premarket activity, while the Nasdaq gained 0.6%. The Dow closed Thursday trading down for the third consecutive session, while the SP 500 and the Nasdaq were little changed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 1.9% to $92.83 a barrel Friday, while Brent was off 1.3% to $105.17. Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that Tehran is willing to open the Strait of Hormuz in seven days and restart nuclear talks with the US, if Washington accepts its conditions, CNBC reported Friday, citing state media. "If certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz will be open at the end of seven days, and talks will be restarted," Araghchi reportedly said. "The conditions we have asked the US to meet are nothing new, nothing more than what was already in the Islamabad (memorandum of understanding), which was signed by the US President (Donald Trump)." On Thursday, Reuters reported that US and Iranian negotiators were discussing a phased path out of their conflict, with Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its economic blockade of Iran. The two-year Treasury yield was unchanged at 4.9% early Friday, while the 10-year rate gained 1.3 basis points to 5.18%. The 30-year rate moved almost one basis point higher to 5.47%. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to complete his state visit to the US Friday. The Chinese leader met with Trump at the White House on Thursday, although no major policy outcomes were reported. Earlier in the week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly said the two countries agreed to extend their trade truce by two months. Friday's economic calendar has the durable goods order report for August at 8:30 am ET, followed by the final University of Michigan consumer sentiment report for September at 10 am. The weekly Baker Hughes oil-and-gas rig count is out at 1 pm. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Jeffrey Schmid is scheduled to speak at 9:20 am, while Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack speaks at 2 pm. Shares of Costco Wholesale (COST) edged down 0.2% pre-bell as the warehouse chain's fiscal fourth-quarter comparable sales growth fell short of market expectations. Akamai Technologies (AKAM) surged 24% as the company signed a seven-year deal worth $11.6 billion with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic to support its central processing unit workload demands using Akamai Cloud's infrastructure. Gold rose 0.8% to $4,331 per troy ounce, while bitcoin fell to $84,473.