Stock futures were mostly rising on Wednesday, as investors bet that the artificial-intelligence rally will keep rolling ahead of a Federal Reserve policy decision and three crucial Big Tech earnings reports.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 29 points, but S&P 500 futures were up 0.3% after both gauges hit record highs the previous session. Contracts tied to the Nasdaq 100 added 0.5%.
The tech-heavy gauge looked likely to get a boost due to ongoing enthusiasm about AI. President Donald Trump said overnight that he would talk to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell chips when the two leaders meet in South Korea on Thursday, bolstering hopes that Beijing could lift its curbs on the semiconductors as part of any trade deal between the two countries.
Markets still have a lot to get through before that happens, though. It’s looked for weeks like a done deal that the Fed will cut interest rates by a quarter of a point, but investors will still be keeping an eye on Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference, which could give them a better idea about where borrowing costs are headed.
It’s of particular interest because most economic data releases have been suspended for the past few weeks due to the ongoing government shutdown, which just entered its 29th day.
Google owner Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, and tech giant Microsoft are all set to post their results after the closing bell. It’s been a solid enough start to the quarterly earnings season, but the mega-cap companies could help set the tone for markets for the rest of this year, given the key role they play in the AI trade.
“This week’s Big Tech earnings may be the most important in recent memory since many investors are skeptical about the stock market’s rally over the past two months,” David Laut, CIO at KERUX Financial, said. “Big tech earnings will provide clarity and data that investors can use to determine if the past few weeks of gains are justified or if the market got ahead of itself.”
The yield on the 10-year U.S. note was flat at 3.98% on Wednesday. The dollar ticked up 0.2% against a weighted basket of its peers, and gold futures climbed 0.7% to $4,009 an ounce. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalization, was down 0.7% to $113,383 over the past 24 hours.