Stock futures were surging Thursday after chip maker Nvidia issued strong revenue guidance for the current quarter, putting to bed any fears that the artificial-intelligence boom was about to fizzle out.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 272 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures added 1.3%, and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.7%.
Nvidia beat analysts’ estimates for earnings and revenue and provided a January-quarter forecast that was well above Wall Street’s expectations, sending its shares up 5.1% in late trading. CFO Colette Kress said the guidance doesn’t assume any revenue from China, making the outlook even more impressive.
Other AI stocks including Advanced Micro Devices and Palantir also rallied after the close, suggesting the results are easing the market’s fears about bloated valuations.
“It’s fair to say that Nvidia’s results have completely changed the market mood and pushed out any bubble fears for another day,” Deutsche Bank head of macro research Jim Reid said.
The next test for the market will be Thursday’s September nonfarm payrolls report, which is coming out a lot later than usual, having been delayed by the 43-day government shutdown.
The jobs numbers matter because investors are still trying to figure out if the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month. Fed minutes published on Wednesday suggested policymakers were leaning toward keeping borrowing costs unchanged.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped 1 basis point to 4.14% on Thursday. The dollar was flat against a weighted basket of its peers, and gold futures slipped 0.7% to $4,057 an ounce. Bitcoin climbed 0.8% to $92,207.
