US stock futures jump as Nvidia results ease AI bubble concerns

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By Shashwat Chauhan and Twesha Dikshit

(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures jumped on Thursday after Nvidia’s stellar results quelled some concerns around an AI bubble, boosting technology stocks, while a long-awaited jobs report was also in focus.

Nvidia surged 4.9% in premarket trading after the world’s most valuable company forecast sales above analysts’ estimates for the final three months of the year and surpassed expectations for third-quarter revenue.

CEO Jensen Huang shrugged off concerns about an AI bubble on a call with analysts, saying, “We see something very different.”

A year-long rally in high-flying technology stocks had begun to lose some steam as investors became increasingly cautious of a potential AI bubble.

Concerns over monetization prospects over the technology, circular spending within the sector and debt issuance has weighed on markets with the Nasdaq sharply off October highs.

“Right now, the bear thesis is falling apart and the AI trade is very much intact,” said Daniel Newman, CEO at The Futurum Group.

Rival Advanced Micro Devices rose 4.2%, while other chip-related stocks, including Broadcom and Marvell Technology, also recorded strong gains.

Most megacap and growth stocks advanced, with Alphabet up 1.9% and Meta gaining 1.3%.

At 06:05 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 252 points, or 0.55%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 73.5 points, or 1.1%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 348.75 points, or 1.41%

All eyes will be on retail giant Walmart’s earnings before the bell, whose numbers will be parsed to feel the pulse of the American consumer and the health of the overall economy.

JOBS DATA IS BACK

The long-delayed jobs report is expected to show that growth likely picked up moderately in September, while the unemployment rate held steady near a four-year high of 4.3%. The report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET and is expected to confirm the significant loss of momentum in the labor market this year.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday it would not be publishing its October report, but would combine nonfarm payrolls for that month with November’s report after the recently ended government shutdown prevented the collection of data for the household survey.

The September jobs data comes a day after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting showed a divided committee on whether to cut interest rates.

Traders are now seeing a 34% chance of a December rate cut, down from about 50% seen a day prior, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

At least five Fed officials are set to speak later in the day.

Among premarket movers, Palo Alto Networks dipped 4.1% after the cybersecurity firm said it would buy cloud management and monitoring company Chronosphere for $3.35 billion.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Krishna Chandra Eluri)