US Futures Rise With Nvidia Results in Focus: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — US futures gained as traders looked ahead to Nvidia Corp.’s results later Wednesday for fresh momentum. 

Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.3% after Wall Street benchmarks recovered from a bout of volatility following the escalation in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Bloomberg’s dollar gauge advanced 0.3%, rebounding from a three-day drop. The 10-year US Treasury yield climbed three basis points after falling yesterday as investors fled to haven assets.

Investors will scrutinize Nvidia’s quarterly results to gauge if the world’s most valuable company can continue its remarkable run fueled by spending on artificial intelligence hardware, with the chipmaker edging higher in premarket trading after rising 4.9% in the previous session. Trading in options signals the results will be the most important catalyst left this year — more than the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, according to Barclays Plc strategists. 

“The health of the market being driven by results of individual companies in itself points to a certain element of fragility,” said Subitha Subramaniam, chief economist at Sarasin & Partners. “Is it sufficient that they beat, is it sufficient that they beat by a big margin? We are hanging on every statement of the CEO.”

In US premarket trading, shares of Target Corp fell as much as 20% after the retailer trimmed its full-year outlook due to flat sales and an inventory buildup. Company executives said US consumers spent less on nonessential items such as clothes and home products – a weaker third-quarter picture than the one provided by Walmart Inc. on Tuesday. 

Traders are also monitoring Donald Trump’s administration picks, especially his selection for the Treasury secretary role. Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and Apollo Global Management’s Marc Rowan are in contention, according to people familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, Trump tapped Cantor Fitzgerald LP Chief Executive Officer Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department, a key role to facilitate his tariff and trade policies.

“As I look at the Treasury secretary race, I want to see exactly who is in that role because the tax policies, the debt limit all come back,” Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James, told Bloomberg TV. “We need to see exactly how that person has a relationship with the Federal Reserve, because monetary policy will quickly figure into all of this.”

Europe’s Stoxx 600 was up 0.5%, while the UK FTSE 100 underperformed after the latest inflation reading came in hotter than anticipated, with traders paring back expectations for Bank of England rate cuts. 

Among individual movers in Europe, Sage Group Plc was up as much as 22%, the biggest intraday gain on record, after the software firm announced a £400 million ($507 million) buyback and reported stronger revenues. La Française de Jeux SAEM shares fell as much as 6.9%, the biggest drop in seven weeks, after a shareholder sold 4.7 million shares in the gaming equipment company at a discount. 

Bitcoin set another all-time high, supported by a series of developments highlighting the deepening embrace of the digital-asset industry in the US under crypto cheerleader Trump.

Key events this week:

• Nvidia earnings, Wednesday
• Fed’s Lisa Cook and Michelle Bowman speak, Wednesday
• Eurozone consumer confidence, Thursday
• US existing home sales, initial jobless claims, Philadelphia Fed factory index, Thursday
• Eurozone HCOB Manufacturing & Services PMI, Friday
• US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, S&P Global Manufacturing & Services PMI, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets: 

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% as of 8:19 a.m. New York time
• Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.3%
• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%
• The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.5%
• The MSCI World Index was little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
• The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0557
• The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.2664
• The Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 155.72 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 2.2% to $94,323
• Ether rose 0.6% to $3,115.2

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.42%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.38%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.47%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to $70 a barrel
• Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,635.43 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Winnie Hsu and Jaewon Kang.

(Earlier version was corrected to say it’s fiscal year for Seven & i deal.)

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