U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday as AI bellwether Nvidia’s upbeat forecast soothed concerns of cooling demand in the industry, while investors gauged the implications of the Trump administration’s latest threats on global trade.
Nvidia added less than 1% in choppy premarket trading, far tamer than some of the stock’s previous post-results surges, as the company’s revenue growth slowed further.
“It’s telling that Nvidia’s latest set of results beat earnings expectations for the ninth quarter in a row and failed to win over the market,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
Fellow chip stocks Broadcom added 2.1% and Advanced Micro Devices gained 1%, while megacaps Microsoft and Meta rose 0.4% and 1.4%, respectively.
The launch of low-cost AI models from China’s DeepSeek in January had paused a two-year, tech-driven bull rally on Wall Street, with Nvidia losing half a trillion dollars in market value in a single day. More recently, an analyst report suggesting Microsoft was scrapping some data center leases also raised concerns of overcapacity.
“The prospect of being able run AI services more cheaply, together with growing uncertainties around the economic outlook, mean companies will be paying more attention to tech-related spending,” Coatsworth said.