Wall St futures slip as second half of year begins with Mideast worries

July 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on Wednesday, kicking off the second half of 2026 cautiously amid fresh doubts over peace in the Middle East, while investors awaited ‌commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh.

Tehran said it would not meet with top U.S. ‌envoys who flew to the region following an outbreak of hostilities, suggesting that a breakthrough in peace negotiations was not imminent.

Repeated false ​dawns in negotiations have made the war situation difficult to track, leading some investors to focus instead on the underlying pillars of the economy.

But the declines on Wednesday indicate that the U.S.-Iran war remains difficult to ignore, especially given the impact the Middle East has on the global energy markets.

At 5:20 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis ‌were down 137 points, or 0.26%, S&P ⁠500 E-minis fell 22.5 points, or 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis slipped 166.25 points, or 0.54%.

Investors are also worried that the Federal Reserve may need to hike ⁠rates and keep them elevated to keep inflation under control.

Traders expect the central bank to raise rates at least once by the end of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Additionally, data

Fuente original: Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/wall-st-futures-slip-second-101234083.html)