Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures advanced on Wednesday as Nvidia and other chip stocks continued to regain momentum ahead of a key inflation reading this week, while FedEx shares soared on the back of an upbeat annual profit forecast.
AI chip firm Nvidia climbed 2.2% premarket, recovering from recent losses, while semiconductor stocks Broadcom, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Arm Holdings gained 1% each.
Micron Technology also jumped 3% ahead of its quarterly results, due after the closing bell.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, S&P 500 information technology index and Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index all notched gains of more than 1% on Tuesday.
The AI stocks rally is expected to leave an outsized imprint on the final reconstitution of the Russell indexes on Friday.
Megacaps such as Meta Platforms and Alphabet edged up in premarket trading after their more than 2% jump on Tuesday. Apple and Amazon.com also gained on Wednesday.
At 5:31 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 6 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 9.75 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 64.5 points, or 0.32%.
Investors also braced for Friday’s personal consumption expenditures price index – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. With the Fed projecting only one interest rate cut likely in December, all eyes will be on whether the data shows an expected moderation in price pressures.
Market participants see a near 60% chance of a 25-basis point rate cut in September, and about two cuts by the year end, LSEG’s FedWatch data showed.
Delivery giant FedEx jumped 13.5% after forecasting fiscal 2025 profit above estimates.
Rivian soared 37% as German automaker Volkswagen said it will invest up to $5 billion in the U.S. electric-vehicle maker as part of a new, equally controlled joint venture.
Albemarle rose 2.5% as the world’s largest lithium producer plans to hold more auctions for the metal used in EV batteries.
Shares advanced in Europe and Asia on Wednesday after a rebound for Nvidia offset weakness on Wall Street.
Germany’s DAX surged 0.8% to 18,482.00 while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1% at 7,672.76. In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.5% to 8,291.45.
In Asian trading, Japan’s Nikkei jumped 1.3% to 39,667.07, buoyed by strong demand for technology shares driven by the enthusiasm over Nvidia and artificial intelligence.
Tokyo Electron gained 3.6% and Advantest Corp. soared 7%. Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. added 1.5%.
Meanwhile, the dollar inched higher against the Japanese yen, drawing warnings from senior officials in Tokyo of potential intervention in the market.
The dollar rose to 159.89 Japanese yen from 159.70 yen. The euro fell to $1.0695 from $1.0717.
“Fundamentally, the yen remains weak, lacking triggers for a reversal,” Luca Santos, a currency analyst at ACY Securities, said in a commentary.
“The threat of direct intervention looms if USD/JPY crosses the 160.00 (yen) threshold,” he said, noting that Japanese officials had stressed that the pace of the yen’s decline, not just its level, could trigger intervention.
The Kospi in Seoul was up 0.6% at 2,792.05.
Chinese shares rebounded after a weak open. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher to 18,089.93 and the Shanghai Composite index surged 0.8% to 2,972.53.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 7,783.00.
Shares rose 05.% in Taiwan and 0.7% in India. Bangkok’s SET edged 0.1% higher.
In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 57 cents to $81.40 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, was up 57 cents at $84.79 per barrel.
Reuters and The Associated Press
