US stocks held their ground before the bell on Thursday as Wall Street pored over Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings, raising hopes the tech-fueled record-breaking rally has more room to run.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) traded steady, keeping grip on the latest all-time high set on Wednesday by the broad benchmark. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) rose 0.2%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were little changed.
The initial cloud over Nvidia is lifting a little as investors dig into its quarterly report, seen as a test of the AI trade driving stock gains this year. The chipmaker’s shares have pared losses after dropping 3.5% as its after-hours earnings beat was overshadowed by disappointing data-center sales.
Nvidia stressed that chip demand is healthy, in a comeback to recent fears of an AI bubble about to burst. Its CEO Jensen Huang touted “extraordinary” demand for the company’s Blackwell AI chips and said that he sees China as a $50 billion opportunity, telling Yahoo Finance that the company is getting “fired back up” to sell chips into the country.
Focus is now shifting to economic data releases due later Thursday. Bets on interest-rate cuts face a reckoning with the release of updates on jobless claims and second quarter GDP, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened the door. But this week’s big test comes on Friday, with the July reading on PCE consumer inflation.
Elsewhere in earnings, cloud analytics firm Snowflake (SNOW) shares soared as its results indicated the company is benefitting from AI investments. HP (HPQ) stock took a wild ride before stabilizing as investors assessed the tech company’s ability to withstand new tariffs.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike (CRWD) shares fell after its results signaled cautious clients amid economic uncertainty.
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