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 roughly 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) fell below the flatline.
Investors are digging 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, eyes were on the latest escalation of President Trump’s tariff threats after he said in a social media post that levies against Mexico and Canada will go into effect as scheduled on March 4. This follows the President’s pledge on Wednesday to impose 25% tariffs on the European Union.
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.
The US economy grew at an unrevised 2.3% annualized pace last quarter, on par with consensus estimates. Meanwhile weekly initial jobless claims jumped to 242,000, higher than the 221,000 expected by economists in a sign of a softening labor market.
Friday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index will be the next data point investors will focus on for economic clues as the path to interest rate cuts is seen as increasingly uncertain.
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Jobless claims jump to three-month high
Separately, data from the US Labor Department released Thursday showed 242,000 unemployment claims were filed in the week ending Feb. 22, ahead of Wall Street’s expectations for 221,000 and an increase of 22,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This marked the highest level of filed claims since December.
There was also a notable increase in D.C. jobless claims, with 2,047 claims filed last week versus 1,626 in the prior-week period. Overall, though, federal jobless claims did not show any obvious impact from DOGE-related layoffs, though economists warned the timing is still early.
Continuing weekly unemployment insurance claims also continued to hover at high levels, highlighting the ongoing challenge for workers to find a new job. Continuing claims during the week ending Feb. 15 ticked down slightly to 1.86 million, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level and below Wall Street expectations.
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GDP: US economy grew at 2.3% annualized pace in Q4
The US economy grew at an unrevised 2.3% annualized pace last quarter, on par with consensus estimates.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’s (BEA) second estimate of fourth quarter US gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged from the advanced estimate, which had shown 2.3% annualized growth.
The second estimate, based on more complete source data than the advanced estimate, suggests that economic growth in the fourth quarter was slower than the 3.1% annualized growth seen in the third quarter.
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending and government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in investment, according to the BEA.
A third and final estimate for Q4 GDP growth will be released at the end of March.
Read more here.
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Salesforce stock slips as Wall Street questions its AI bet
Salesforce (CRM) is downplaying the near-term revenue impact of its AI-powered Agentforce platform, and Wall Street isn’t thrilled.
Shares fell 3% in premarket trading after the company issued a weaker-than-expected 2025 outlook. Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi breaks it down:
Read more here
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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.
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
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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.
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Oil climbs after Trump cancels Chevron’s Venezuela license
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%.
Reuters reports:
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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:
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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.
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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:
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