US stock futures rose on Wednesday to eye fresh records, with hopes for a China boost to Nvidia (NVDA) buoying techs in the wait for the Federal Reserve to confirm bets on an interest-rate cut.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) rose 0.2%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) gained roughly 0.4%, following a strong session that lifted stocks to fresh all-time highs. Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) futures, which include fewer tech names, nudged up 0.1%.
Markets are in wait-and-see mode ahead of Wednesday’s Fed decision. The central bank is widely expected to deliver a quarter-point rate cut, its first since July, as investors watch closely for any hints from Chair Jerome Powell about the pace of additional easing.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s (NVDA) stock rose in premarket after President Trump stoked optimism for an easing in the curbs that have weighed on sales in China. Trump said he may bring up Nvidia’s Blackwell AI processors in his highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi on Thursday.
The indicated gains put the AI chipmaker firmly on track to become the first company to cross $5 trillion in market value, after its shares closed at a record high as investors welcomed a flood of announcements from its GTC event.
The countdown is now on for earnings from “Magnificent Seven” tech megacaps, led out after the bell on Wednesday by reports from Alphabet (GOOG), Meta Platforms (META), and Microsoft (MSFT). Quarterly results from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) follow on Thursday.
Analysts expect another round of hefty data center spending, though the focus will be on how much continued investments in AI are paying off. Any disappointment could drag on the broader market.
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