US pre-open: Futures little changed as Nvidia results test AI momentum

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures hovered near the flatline ahead of Thursday's open, as investors weighed Nvidia's latest quarterly update and its implications for the broader artificial intelligence trade. As of 1235 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.09%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.02% and 0.09% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 147.16 points higher on Wednesday amid nervousness ahead of the release of Nvidia's second-quarter earnings and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Federal Reserve.

Nvidia's Q2 earnings beat Wall Street expectations, with revenue rising 56% year-on-year to $46.7bn and net income surging 59% to $26.4bn, driven by continued strength in AI infrastructure demand, particularly for its Blackwell GPU architecture, which saw a 17% sequential increase in data centre revenue. However, total data centre sales of $41.1bn fell short of analyst projections, reflecting the lingering impact of export restrictions to China and inventory adjustments. Despite the earnings beat, Nvidia shares dipped around 3% in after-hours trading, as investors reacted to the modest shortfall in data centre performance and tempered forward guidance.

Also rumbling on in the background were ongoing concerns that the Fed could be opened up to direct political manipulation after Donald Trump told governor Lisa Cook that she was fired earlier this week, a move that Cook plans to challenge in the courts. Trump's top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told Cook that she should go on leave from the central bank even with her plans to file a lawsuit. Cook's departure would increase the influence of the president's appointees on the board.

Trade Nation's David Morrison said: "Nvidia shares slipped after last night's US close, despite reporting second-quarter results that topped Wall Street's expectations. The company beat consensus estimates on both earnings and revenue, but disappointment centred on its data centre revenue, which fell short of forecasts for the second consecutive quarter. This miss weighed on sentiment, given Nvidia's role as a key driver of the AI boom.

"Volatility expectations moderated slightly in early trade this morning, indicating that risk appetite remains strong with investors and traders alike. The VIX fell sharply after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole last Friday. This was interpreted as more dovish than expected, essentially teeing up a 25-basis point rate cut at the next Fed meeting which concludes on 17 September, with hopes of more cuts to come. What investors appear to be overlooking is President Trump's continued meddling in the US central bank's affairs, thereby threatening its independence. This could end up being a far more serious issue."

On the macro front, weekly jobless claims numbers from the Labour Department will be released at 1330 BST, as will preliminary Q2 PCE data, while July pending homes sales were slated for release at 1500 BST, and the Kansas Federal Reserve's August manufacturing index will follow at 1600 BST.

In the corporate space, Best Buy reported an unexpected rise in Q2 sales on Thursday, underpinned by a robust online performance and heightened demand for AI-enabled devices, but shares in the US electronics retailer slipped in pre-market trading after it opted to leave FY sales and profit guidance unchanged, while Dick's Sporting Goods beat Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines and raised its FY sales and earnings guidance as it saw growth in both average tickets and transactions.

Still to come, Dell and Marvell were both scheduled to report their most recent quarterly figures after the close.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com