Stock Market Today: Stocks Trading Lower on Retail Sales and No Middle East Resolution

Premarket Coverage

So much to cover today!

Let's begin with the futures.

Stocks are trading down by about 0.5%. As is gold.

What's rallying? Oil! "Black Gold" is up more than 1.5% on worries that a resolution in the Middle East might take longer than it seemed just yesterday.

Bonds are also up in a flight to quality, as well as fresh calls from President Trump for the Fed to lower interest rates.

Here's a table of the futures:

Overnight, it's been a rocky road. Since yesterday's close, the S&P 500 futures have mostly trended lower.

What's happening?

Well, the big news, as mentioned above, is the war in the Middle East. Any hopes for a quick resolution are currently dashed. Although Iran has suggested that it is open to a diplomatic end, Israel has continued to attack, likely to cripple Iran's ability to launch further attacks. 

Over on TheStreet Pro, Stephen Guilfoyle reports that Israel has already destroyed more than one-third of Iran's ballistic missile capabilities. He also said, "Saudi Arabia had supposedly lobbied the U.S. president as well, to pressure Israel to slow down their campaign. Israeli officials claimed that President Trump had not told them to stop. 

"In addition, senior Iranian officials have expressed a mistrust of the U.S. president and rejected U.S. claims that there was no involvement in the attack on their nation."

There's more big news! As we discussed yesterday, world leaders are meeting in Canada. However, Trump departed the meeting early in order to deal with the Middle East. And that makes sense. 

But in the day he spent with other leaders, Trump was able to sign a previously negotiated trade deal with the UK. 

Yesterday, we also discussed the tax bill that's making its way through the Senate. Senate Republicans are divided on several issues, notably the state-and-local-tax, or SALT, deduction, which is currently capped at $10,000. Legislators from high-tax states like New York would like to raise that cap to $40,000. 

Other tax issues are being debated, too, like a longer phase-out period for clean energy tax credits and deeper cuts to medicaid. There was general agreement among majority Republicans that the 2017 tax cuts should be extended and not left to expire this year.

Economics

Last up, there are several economic reports to watch today. The big one being retail sales. According the the U.S. Census Bureau, retail sales fell for the second month in a row. For May, sales were down by 0.9%, which was weaker than expected. 

Here's a nice take on the report:

Interesting breakdown on retail sales. Autos down after pre-tariff bump. Notable drop in building materials, restaurants and bars. Looks like consumers pulling back on discretionary spending, but still shopping online. pic.twitter.com/d6prJKzWwH— Kathy Jones (@KathyJones) June 17, 2025

We'll be back later with more.