The Nasdaq led US stock futures higher on Thursday as investors weighed AI chipmaker Nvidia’s earnings report and took stock of President Trump’s latest tariff pledges.
Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) moved up roughly 0.8%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) added 0.6% after both indexes eked out closing gains on Wednesday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) edged 0.2% higher.
An upbeat tone is seeping into markets as investors dig into Nvidia’s quarterly earnings beat, which signaled plenty of scope for growth as it eased worries about DeepSeek and faltering AI demand. The results initially met a muted response as its profit outlook raised doubts on Wall Street, but Nvidia’s stock was up 2.6% premarket to recover from an earlier pullback.
Meanwhile, investors were scrutinizing President Trump’s latest escalation of tariff threats, as trade-war uncertainty dogs markets already worried about cracks in the US economy. The president pledged to impose 25% tariffs on the European Union and revived the paused duties on Canada and Mexico on Wednesday. But he remained vague on details, sparking confusion around timing.
CME – Delayed Quote • USD
As of 8:41:59 AM EST. Market Open.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices — seen by some as a gauge of faith in Trump — continued to pull back from a post-election peak, falling 2%. But the cryptocurrency pared earlier overnight losses that saw it drop below $85,000 to hit its lowest point since November.
The US economy grew at an unrevised 2.3% annualized pace last quarter, on par with consensus estimates. Meanwhile weekly initial jobless claims jumped to 242,000, higher than the 221,000 expected by economists in a sign of a softening labor market.
Friday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index will be the next data point investors will focus on for economic clues as the path to interest rate cuts is seen as increasingly uncertain.
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GDP: US economy grew at 2.3% annualized pace in Q4
The US economy grew at an unrevised 2.3% annualized pace last quarter, on par with consensus estimates.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’s second estimate of fourth quarter US gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged from the advanced estimate, which had shown 2.3% annualized growth.
The second estimate, based on more complete source data than the advanced estimate, suggests that economic growth in the fourth quarter was slower than the 3.1% annualized growth seen in the third quarter.
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending and government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in investment, according to the BEA.
A third and final estimate for Q4 GDP growth will be released at the end of March.
Read more here.
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Salesforce stock slips as Wall Street questions its AI bet
Salesforce (CRM) is downplaying the near-term revenue impact of its AI-powered Agentforce platform, and Wall Street isn’t thrilled.
Shares fell 3% in premarket trading after the company issued a weaker-than-expected 2025 outlook. Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi breaks it down:
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What Wall Street is saying about Nvidia’s earnings beat
Nvidia stock (NVDA) reversed early climbed over 2% higher in premarket trading after the AI giant beat analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines for the fourth quarter.
NasdaqGS – Delayed Quote • USD
At close: February 26 at 4:00:01 PM EST
Nvidia issued solid revenue guidance as CEO Jensen Huang stated that “AI is advancing at light speed as agentic AI and physical AI set the stage for the next wave of AI to revolutionize the largest industries.”
However, as Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi writes, investors also keyed in on Nvidia below-consensus outlook for profit margins.
The margin outlook of 71% is “a little concerning,” Benchmark Company managing director and senior research analyst Cody Acree said on Market Domination. “I think that’s indicative of more pricing pressure, more competition from AMD, and more price sensitivity at their customers as they’re investing their own dollars to create their own ASICs [application specific integrated circuits].”
Read more about how Wall Street reacted to Nvidia’s earnings.
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
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Moderna stock falls as Trump team weighs pulling bird flu vaccine contract
Shares in healthcare giant Moderna (MRNA) pulled back in premarket trading early Thursday on the heels of a report that HHS is reviewing its contract to produce bird flu shots.
The potential withdrawal would come after HHS head Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke out against COVID shots and as…
Read More: Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow futures rise as Nvidia gains after earnings beat