Before the U.S. market opens on July 3, futures of major U.S. stock indexes saw a slight rise. Dow Jones futures increased by 0.07%, S&P 500 futures by 0.03%, and Nasdaq futures by 0.03%. Concurrently, European markets exhibited mixed results with the DAX up 0.10%, FTSE 100 up 0.41%, and CAC40 down 0.10%.
Meanwhile, oil prices slightly dropped; WTI crude declined by 0.25% to $67.28 per barrel, and Brent crude fell by 0.30% to $68.90 per barrel. Due to the U.S. Independence Day holiday, the U.S. stock market will be closed for one day.
Oracle (ORCL, Financial) has entered into a significant $30 billion cloud services agreement with OpenAI to build more data centers as part of the "Stargate" project. OpenAI plans to utilize Oracle's facilities, renting approximately 4.5 GW of data center power capacity in the U.S. This deal highlights the infrastructure demands needed for advanced AI product development.
In other corporate news, Microsoft (MSFT) announced another round of layoffs affecting about 9,000 jobs, focusing on sales and Xbox sectors. Tesla's (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has taken over sales responsibilities in the U.S. and Europe following a dip in delivery numbers. Production in Asia remains under Tom Zhu's management.
