(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, as a wave of optimism around artificial intelligence gripped Wall Street following Micron’s upbeat forecast, while investors also awaited economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Micron Technology jumped 15.8% in premarket trading after the memory chip maker forecast higher than expected first-quarter revenue, underscoring that demand for memory chips used in AI computing was robust.
Other chip stocks also gained, with Nvidia rising 1.2%, Advanced Micro Devices advancing 2.2% and Broadcom adding 1.7%.
Meta led gains among other growth names, with a 1.7% rise, a day after unveiling an entry-level version of its Quest line of mixed-reality headsets. Alphabet added 1%, Tesla climbed 1.3% and Microsoft was up 0.7%.
At 05:21 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 197 points, or 0.47%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 43.5 points, or 0.76% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 268.25 points, or 1.33%.
Futures tracking the Russell 2000 small caps index added 0.83%.
The benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow have hit multiple record highs since the start of this year and the tech-laden Nasdaq is about 3% away from its own milestone as investors lap up shares of companies that could see a boost to earnings from AI-integration.
Expectations of lower interest rates have further strengthened the rally. Focus will now be on jobless claims data for the week ended Sept. 21 and a final second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate. The reports are due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Late on Wednesday, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said she “strongly supported” the central bank’s decision to kick off monetary policy easing with a rare half a percentage point cut last week, as part of an emerging focus on the job market.
The spotlight will now be on Powell’s remarks at a New York conference expected before the market opens as investors look for clues on the outlook for the economy and the pace of further easing.
Odds of a 50 basis-point reduction in interest rates in November are at 60.8%, compared with 38.8% a week ago, as per the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Traders also await remarks from a host of Fed officials, including John Williams, Michael Barr, Michelle Bowman and Neel Kashkari.
Among others, copper miners such as Freeport-McMoRan rose 3.5%, while lithium miners such as Albemarle climbed 3.8% and Arcadium added 2.3% after a report said China plans to issue special sovereign bonds worth about 2 trillion yuan as part of a fresh fiscal stimulus.
The optimism also spread to U.S.-listed Chinese firms such as Li Auto that advanced 6.7%, PDD Holdings rose 7% and Alibaba added 5.3%.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
