US Stock Futures Rise Before Data as Nvidia Gains: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — US equity futures rose as traders awaited a batch of economic data for clues on the interest-rate outlook and after Nvidia Corp.’s earnings reassured investors on the outlook for AI chip demand.

Contracts on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were up at least 0.7%. Nvidia advanced 2.2% in premarket trading after reporting a fourth-quarter earnings beat and giving a forecast that mostly met market expectations. Other members of the Magnificent Seven cohort were also higher, with Meta Platforms Inc., Tesla Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. rising more than 1%.

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Initial jobless claims and revised fourth-quarter gross domestic product numbers feature in a flurry of readings due later that investors will parse for any further evidence of slowing growth. Money markets have boosted Federal Reserve easing bets to fully price two quarter-point cuts this year compared to just one reduction two weeks ago. 

Nvidia’s largely positive results come only a month after Chinese startup DeepSeek challenged US Big Tech’s artificial intelligence spending with its cheaper AI model. The picture for tech investors is made even more complex by US President Donald Trump’s administration pressuring allies to escalate curbs on China’s semiconductor industry.      

“While we continue to highlight volatility in the near term amid macro uncertainty, US-China tensions, tariffs, and geopolitical developments, we believe the broader AI trend remains intact,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. 

Investors are confronting a murky outlook for US trade tariffs, after Trump threatened to impose 25% levies on European Union imports. The region’s Stoxx 600 index fell 0.4%, off its lows for Thursday’s session, with the auto sector the biggest laggard. 

Trump gave contradictory statements Wednesday on the implementation of tariffs, keeping investors guessing. A White House official said the European levies could affect all exports from the block, or only specific sectors. The US remains on track to put levies on Mexico and Canada, however it is unclear if they are going to be enacted in March. 

“The market wants to see the implementation to price in the worst,” said Michael Nizard of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. “Up until now, it was negotiations and the market doesn’t want to correct more.”

A gauge of the dollar rose, with the yen the biggest decliner against the greenback among Group-of-10 currencies. Treasuries slipped as traders looked forward to Thursday’s economic data. Soft readings for services PMI and home sales this week added to signs that the economy is starting to slow, helping put 10-year yields on track for their seventh weekly decline, the longest streak since 2019.

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Meanwhile, on the outlook for US stocks, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Ilan Benhamou said they will struggle early March amid weaker economic data before they rally again later in spring.

“In the immediate future, things are too messy for stocks to break out, and I think the market is stuck,” Benhamou, who works in equity derivatives sales, wrote in a note to clients.

Corporate Highlights:

• Salesforce Inc. fell in premarket trading after the software company gave an outlook that is weaker than expected, though analysts said it is likely conservative.
• Snowflake Inc. projected better-than-expected revenue growth for the fiscal year, sending an optimistic signal about the adoption of its recently launched products for artificial intelligence. The shares jumped in premarket trading.
• Elliott Investment Management is ramping up pressure on BP Plc after its new strategy fell short of the activist investor’s expectations, people with knowledge of the matter said.
• Royal Bank of Canada beat estimates on higher results in its capital-markets and wealth-management divisions as both units benefited from strong markets.
• The Agnelli family’s disposal of a €3 billion ($3.14 billion) stake in Ferrari NV has propelled European block sales to the strongest start to the year in two decades.
• Ocado Group Plc will cut about 500 jobs, or about 2.5% of its global workforce, as it faces a challenging outlook for its automated grocery warehouse business.
• Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc raised its profit guidance, reinstated a dividend and said it plans to buy back £1 billion ($1.27 billion) of stock, as the aircraft engine maker seeks to extend a two-year turnaround.
• Nissan Motor Co. is drawing up plans to replace its chief executive officer following another dismal set of earnings and the collapse of talks to combine with Honda Motor Co., according to people familiar with the matter.

Key events this week:

• US GDP, durable goods, initial jobless claims, Thursday
• Fed’s Jeff Schmid, Beth Hammack, Patrick Harker, Michael Barr, Michelle Bowman speak, Thursday
• Japan Tokyo CPI, industrial production, retail sales, Friday
• US PCE inflation, income and spending, Friday
• Fed’s Austan Goolsbee speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.7% as of 7:04 a.m. New York time
• Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7%
• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%
• The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.3%
• The MSCI World Index was little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
• The euro was little changed at $1.0478
• The British pound was little changed at $1.2675
• The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 149.74 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 2.5% to $86,618.82
• Ether rose 0.5% to $2,351.58

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.30%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.45%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.52%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $69.24 a barrel
• Spot gold fell 1.1% to $2,883.84 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Divya Patil and James Hirai.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.