US stock futures climbed on Thursday as blockbuster Nvidia (NVDA) earnings helped rekindle faith in the AI trade, and rate-cut hopes brightened after the release of the long-awaited monthly jobs report.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) led the way higher, with futures rising roughly 1.8%. while S&P 500 futures (ES=F) were up about 1.3%. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), which includes fewer tech stocks, rose 0.7%. Stocks on Wall Street saw a modest rebound on Wednesday, breaking a four-day losing streak.
Nvidia stock surged more than 5% in premarket trading after the chipmaker delivered an earnings beat and issued a stronger-than-expected revenue outlook for the fourth quarter. CEO Jensen Huang said demand for the company’s Blackwell processors is “off the charts,” easing concern that the recent cooldown in AI-linked stocks signaled a longer-term slowdown.
Meanwhile, Thursday morning’s September nonfarm-payrolls report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics prompted a rethink in rate-cut bets. The US economy added 119,000 jobs during the month, data showed — well above the modest gain of 51,000 expected.
But the US unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, from 4.3% in August. Economists expected the rate to remain unchanged, while the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago projected it had inched up to 4.35%.
Following the report, options traders were pricing in around 35% odds of a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting in December, compared with 28% earlier in the morning and 30% the previous day.
The data marked the first major insight into the US economy since the longest-ever US government shutdown ended. The stoppage had left Wall Street flying blind in trying to gauge the odds of interest rate cuts from the central bank. September’s report came into even higher focus since the the BLS canceled the October edition and moved the November update back to Dec. 16.
Minutes from the Fed’s October meeting showed policymakers have “strongly differing views” over whether a cooling labor market or stubborn inflation poses the greater risk to the economy. The divide fed uncertainty over the central bank’s December decision, with a number of officials signaling no further rate cuts ahead.
Elsewhere in earnings, Walmart (WMT) raised its full-year forecasts after it beat on profit and sales in the third quarter. Its shares wavered as investors assessed the big-box retailer’s report, seen as a window into the strength of the consumer heading into the holiday season.
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