A blockbuster outlook from chip darling Nvidia Corp. is providing a boost to tech stocks and lifting key equity indexes Thursday morning, adding to investor optimism about the AI cycle.
Contracts on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.4% at 8:15 a.m. in New York, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1%. Salesforce Inc. was among the top performers, climbing on a strong revenue outlook and a deepened partnership with Anthropic PBC. Elsewhere in the tech space, Sandisk Corp. shares climbed on plans to spend $31 billion with Kioxia Holdings Corp. to ratchet up production capacity in Japan.
Nvidia’s results from Wednesday were “generally in-line” but it’s guidance was strong enough that it’s “boosting tech and futures” Thursday morning, Sevens Report founder Tom Essaye wrote.
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Nvidia’s guidance for 70% revenue growth in its fiscal 2028 year has it leading gains among large-cap tech names in early trading on Thursday morning. The stock is poised to add more than $300 billion in market capitalization at the open.
“Demand for accelerated computing remains feverish. These growth rates are extraordinary, completely unprecedented at this scale,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.
The outlook helped lift artificial intelligence-linked stocks, including memory and storage names, chip equipment and optical names like Applied Optoelectronics Inc.
“At the moment I think the market is still trying to figure out, apropos the Nvidia earnings, what exactly the scenario we are on. Are we in the scenario where things are about to turn south in terms of not seeing the payoff from AI?” Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Management, said on Bloomberg TV. He said the other scenario, which the market wants to see, is a productivity boost, which may lead to a drop in interest rates.
Traders will get additional clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path this morning, with data expected on the US trade balance, retail and wholesale inventories and initial jobless claims all expected at 8:30 a.m. in New York.
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s speech at a symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, will also provide more details on the central bank’s view of the inflation outlook.
Among single-stock movers on Thursday, HP Inc. shares plunged premarket on investor concerns about the future demand for personal computers and printers.
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