(Reuters) -S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures ticked higher on Wednesday, with Nvidia poised to surpass $5 trillion in market value ahead of results from three “Magnificent Seven” companies and the Federal Reserve widely expected to cut interest rates.
Shares of the world’s most valuable company climbed 3% in premarket trading after CEO Jensen Huang unveiled $500 billion in AI chip bookings and plans to build seven supercomputers for the U.S. government.
Its gains are set to extend market gains a day after the three major indexes hit record highs.
At 05:27 a.m., Dow e-minis were down 134 points, or 0.28%, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis were up 6.75 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 69.5 points, or 0.27%.
Alphabet rose 0.6%, Meta and Microsoft rose 0.3% each. The companies are set to report their quarterly results after markets close.
With expectations running high, market participants say earnings beats alone may not be enough to steer markets upward. Investors want clarity on whether heavy AI spending still supports long-term growth and justifies lofty valuations.
“The commentary provided by executives will critically frame how far and how confidently the market can chase the AI story into 2026,” said Kate Leaman, chief market analyst at AvaTrade.
Industry heavyweights such as Boeing and Caterpillar are due to report before the opening bell. Their shares were down 0.2% each.
With results in from 180 of the S&P 500 companies, third-quarter earnings are estimated to have increased 10.5% from the year-ago period, above earlier estimates for the quarter, according to LSEG data as of Tuesday.
FED OUTLOOK, US-CHINA TRADE DEAL EYED
At 2:00 p.m. ET, the Fed is expected to trim rates by a quarter of a percentage point, steering the economy with a thin data deck.
After nearly a month of a government shutdown that has kept key economic data under wraps, investors are desperate for clues on where rates are headed and are forced to lean on private surveys and corporate announcements to fill the void.
After Wednesday’s likely rate cut, traders expect another move of the same size in December.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump began the final leg of his Asia trip in South Korea, optimistic about striking a trade war truce with China’s Xi Jinping. Talks between the two counterparts are set for Thursday in the port city of Busan.
Among other stock moves, Teradyne jumped 20.4% after it forecast fourth-quarter revenue above expectations and named a new chief financial officer.
Mondelez International cut its annual profit forecast on Tuesday, sending the Cadbury maker’s shares down 5.3%.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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