A screen tracks Nvidia as a trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 23, 2023.
Nvidia shares jumped 6% in premarket trading on Thursday after it beat analyst expectations and forecast strong revenue growth. Notably, the chipmaker is projected to see revenue growth hit 70% in fiscal 2028, far higher than the 44% that analysts surveyed by LSEG expected. Its revenue for the fiscal second quarter more than doubled.
Futures tied to the tech heavy index rose 0.9%. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded down 86 points, or 0.2%.
Nasdaq-100 futures were higher Thursday as the latest earnings reports from Nvidia and other well-known technology companies boosted sentiment.
Nvidia stands to break its recent pattern of seeing stock declines despite posting stronger-than-anticipated reports.
"We retain our conviction in the broader AI growth story and believe it remains a key driver of our positive market outlook," a team at UBS led by Global Wealth Management Chief Investment Officer Mark Haefele said in a Thursday morning note.
"While ongoing concerns over the sustainability of AI capex and the circularity of certain AI financing deals may continue to inject periodic tech volatility, the second-quarter earnings season has shown that the fundamentals remain robust," they added.
More broadly, shares linked to the semiconductor sector rallied in pre-market trading, with Marvell Technology adding almost 4% and Micron Technology and Arm up more than 3%.
Salesforce rallied 10% in premarket trading after revenue came in ahead of Wall Street's forecast for the second quarter. Okta soared more than 17% ahead of Thursday's regular session after surpassing analyst expectations and reporting booming demand due to agentic AI.
The three major indexes finished Wednesday's session little changed. In addition to the raft of earnings, traders are readying for the start of the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, kicking off Thursday.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 0.20% lower, while South Korea's Kospi rose 1.53%. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.98%. Mainland China's CSI 300 closed 0.86% higher.
European shares were broadly lower Thursday morning, with tech stocks bucking the trend to add 1.5% as regional semiconductor shares jumped following Nvidia's earnings.
