Nasdaq Futures Rise as Big Tech Earnings Calm Geopolitical Fears

Markets Find Their Footing After a Turbulent Thursday

After a rough Thursday session, Wall Street appeared ready to stabilize on Friday morning. Nasdaq futures moved higher as investors shifted their focus back to what has been the primary engine of this bull run: Big Tech earnings. The broader market had sold off the prior day as geopolitical tensions flared in the Strait of Hormuz and two high-profile enterprise software names — IBM and ServiceNow — delivered results that failed to impress, dragging software stocks lower across the board.

All three major indexes finished Thursday in the red, but Friday's pre-market tone was notably more optimistic. With President Donald Trump announcing that the Israel-Lebanon cease-fire would be extended by another three weeks, one key source of uncertainty appeared to ease. Oil prices, which had spiked on Middle East tension fears, were barely moving Friday morning — a signal that traders were dialing back their risk-off positioning.

Why Software Stumbled While Big Tech Holds the Line

The Thursday selloff offers an important lesson in how earnings season works across different pockets of the tech sector. IBM and ServiceNow are enterprise software companies that cater primarily to corporate clients — businesses that are increasingly cautious about IT spending in a higher-for-longer rate environment. When those companies miss expectations or offer soft guidance, the market reads it as a demand signal and sells the entire software cohort.

Big Tech is a different story. The largest names in the Nasdaq — companies with diversified revenue streams spanning cloud infrastructure, digital advertising, consumer hardware, and artificial intelligence — have shown a greater ability to grow earnings even when discretionary enterprise spending softens. That earnings resilience is exactly what investors were banking on Friday morning, and it appeared to be paying off.

Geopolitical Risk: Still There, Just Quieter

It would be a mistake to assume geopolitical risk has disappeared simply because oil prices stabilized and cease-fire news provided short-term relief. The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world's most strategically sensitive shipping lanes, and any escalation there can ripple quickly through energy markets, supply chains, and risk sentiment.

For options traders specifically, geopolitical uncertainty tends to keep implied volatility elevated — which cuts both ways. Higher IV means option premiums are more expensive to buy, but it also means that well-timed, deep out-of-the-money positions can offer outsized payoffs if a move materializes.

What This Means for Options Traders

The current environment presents a nuanced setup for retail options traders. Here are the key dynamics worth watching:

• Big Tech as a safe harbor: With megacap names holding up better than the broader software sector, long-dated call options on large-cap tech stocks may offer a way to participate in continued upside without the blow-up risk that comes with individual software names.
• Software sector caution: The IBM and ServiceNow reactions serve as a reminder that earnings risk in enterprise software is real. Traders holding calls in that space heading into reports should size positions carefully or consider reducing exposure before key print dates.
• Oil and energy optionality: Even with prices relatively stable Friday, the Strait of Hormuz situation means energy volatility could return quickly. Traders who want asymmetric exposure to an oil spike might find value in scanning for deep OTM calls on energy names with favorable risk-reward setups.
• LEAPS as a lower-risk vehicle: In a market where day-to-day swings are being driven by geopolitics and earnings surprises, longer-dated options give traders more time to be right without being forced out by short-term noise. Tools like the StrikeEdge scanner can help identify deep out-of-the-money LEAPS calls on large-cap stocks that are still priced within a range accessible to most retail traders.
• Watch implied volatility levels: If geopolitical tensions continue to ease and Big Tech earnings remain solid, IV could compress — making options cheaper to buy. That compression window, if it opens, is typically when longer-dated calls offer their best entry points.

The bottom line: Friday's recovery in Nasdaq futures is encouraging, but it does not erase the underlying cross-currents in this market. Smart options traders will use moments of relative calm to build positions thoughtfully, manage risk around known catalysts, and stay flexible as the geopolitical and earnings landscapes continue to evolve.