Stock futures (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) are ticking higher early Monday morning following Iran's air assault on Israel on Saturday, April 13.

Retail sales climbed in March — higher than expected — that could indicate the US consumer is still spending resiliently amid inflation pressures in 2024.

Lastly, Goldman Sachs (GS) shares rise in pre-market trading after topping first-quarter earnings estimates, reported this morning.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.

This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

- Stock futures are higher this morning as Wall Street hopes for no further escalation in the Middle East conflict. This comes after Iran launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel Saturday night. Iran struck Israel with more than 300 drones and missiles in what Iran is calling a response to a strike on its consulate in Syria earlier this month. World leaders are calling on Israel not to retaliate as tensions reached a boiling point over the weekend.

- In a fresh reading on the consumer, retail sales continuing their upward trend, rising 7/10 of a percent in March compared to the month prior. Despite higher interest rates and elevated prices, March's retail sales report shows the consumer remains resilient.

- And Goldman Sachs beats Wall Street's expectations. This follows a similar trend that we saw on Friday kicked off by JP Morgan City and Wells Fargo. But Goldman having this surge in profit up to 28% here.

The bank's net interest income also beating analyst expectations with revenues increasing from a year ago. That is due to the uptick in fees due to investment banking at that bank. And this beat following a difficult year for the CEO David Solomon because of a slew of executive changes in their leadership and also general slowdown in deal making.