The Nasdaq led US stock futures higher on Thursday as investors weighed AI chipmaker Nvidia’s earnings report and took stock of President Trump’s latest tariff pledges.
Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) moved up 0.8%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) added 0.6% after both indexes eked out closing gains on Wednesday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) edged 0.3% higher.
An upbeat tone is seeping into markets as investors dig into Nvidia’s quarterly earnings beat, which signaled plenty of scope for growth as it eased worries about DeepSeek and faltering AI demand. The results initially met a muted response as its profit outlook raised doubts on Wall Street, but Nvidia’s stock was up 2.6% premarket to recover from an earlier pullback.
Meanwhile, investors were scrutinizing President Trump’s latest escalation of tariff threats, as trade-war uncertainty dogs markets already worried about cracks in the US economy. The president pledged to impose 25% tariffs on the European Union and revived the paused duties on Canada and Mexico on Wednesday. But he remained vague on details, sparking confusion around timing.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices — seen by some as a gauge of faith in Trump — continued to pull back from a post-election peak, falling 2%. But the cryptocurrency pared earlier overnight losses that saw it drop below $85,000 to hit its lowest point since November.
A fresh look at fourth quarter GDP and the Labor Department’s weekly update on jobless claims are on the docket on Thursday, providing clues to the US economy’s health as concerns grow. That will set the stage for Friday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, as the path to interest rate cuts is seen as increasingly uncertain.
LIVE 7 updates
-
What Wall Street is saying about Nvidia’s earnings beat
Nvidia stock (NVDA) reversed early climbed over 2% higher in premarket trading after the AI giant beat analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines for the fourth quarter.
Nvidia issued solid revenue guidance as CEO Jensen Huang stated that “AI is advancing at light speed as agentic AI and physical AI set the stage for the next wave of AI to revolutionize the largest industries.”
However, as Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi writes, investors also keyed in on Nvidia below-consensus outlook for profit margins.
The margin outlook of 71% is “a little concerning,” Benchmark Company managing director and senior research analyst Cody Acree said on Market Domination. “I think that’s indicative of more pricing pressure, more competition from AMD, and more price sensitivity at their customers as they’re investing their own dollars to create their own ASICs [application specific integrated circuits].”
Read more about how Wall Street reacted to Nvidia’s earnings.
-
Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
-
Moderna stock falls as Trump team weighs pulling bird flu vaccine contract
Shares in healthcare giant Moderna (MRNA) pulled back in premarket trading early Thursday on the heels of a report that HHS is reviewing its contract to produce bird flu shots.
The potential withdrawal would come after HHS head Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke out against COVID shots and as President Trump’s administration hunts for cost cuts.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
-
Oil prices rose slightly from two-month lows, the move sparked by President Donald Trump’s announcement that oil giant Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela would be reversed. The reversal could restrict crude supply.
Brent crude (BZ=F) oil futures crept up 0.3%, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) crude oil futures inched up 0.2%.
Bloomberg reports:
-
Asian markets slide on tariff announcements
Asian equities fell on Thursday as investors digested the latest tariff announcements from President Donald Trump, while earnings from Nvidia (NVDA) failed to meet the market’s high expectations.
Bloomberg reports:
-
Trending tickers from after-hours trading Wednesday
Snowflake (SNOW)
Snowflake shares jumped 9% as the AI software analyst beat revenue expectations for the fiscal year. Fourth-quarter product revenue increased 28% to $943.3 million due to increased customer growth. Snowflake reported 580 customers spending over $1 million against 542 last quarter.
Salesforce (CRM)
Shares of Salesforce dropped 5% in after-hours trading on Wednesday following a weaker-than-expected earnings per share forecast for 2025. This comes after the stock had gained 16% in the six months leading up to the earnings report. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said, “We’ll have a great year”, in response to missing guidance.
eBay (EBAY)
eBay plummeted over 8% after the e-commerce giant provided a weaker-than-expected outlook for the coming quarter. It forecasted first quarter revenue to fall between $2.52 billion and $2.56 billion, missing analysts’ estimate of $2.59 billion.
-
Gold holds near record high as tariff insecurity pushes safe assets
Gold (GC=F) stayed close to its record high after finishing mostly flat in the previous session. Investors continue to exercise caution spurred by President Donald Trump’s recent comments about his intentions to implement new tariffs.
Bloomberg reports:
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
