US stock futures rose following Nvidia Corp.'s strong earnings report and an optimistic sales forecast, which largely surpassed analyst estimates. Nvidia announced revenue of $96.22 billion for the quarter, exceeding the $92.17 billion estimate, and projected third-quarter revenue of $108 billion (plus or minus 2%), higher than the $104.19 billion average estimate. The positive outlook was further fueled by a commitment from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deploy an additional 2 million Nvidia GPUs and management's projection of approximately 70% fiscal-2028 revenue growth.
The robust performance from Nvidia, a key player in artificial intelligence, came after a seven-day losing streak for the company and led to a rebound in chipmakers. The Nasdaq 100 outperformed other major benchmarks, and Nasdaq-100 futures were indicated up about 1% in late trading. Salesforce Inc. also contributed to positive market sentiment with a strong revenue expansion outlook and a deepened partnership with Anthropic PBC, while CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. exceeded revenue estimates, highlighting continued demand in the cybersecurity sector.
Despite the positive corporate news, broader market sentiment was still influenced by concerns over inflation and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy. US inflation data showed that the core personal consumption expenditures price index advanced 3.3% in July year-over-year, remaining well above the Fed's 2% target. Money markets fully priced in a rate hike by December, and analysts like Ellen Zentner at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management noted that the latest economic numbers were not what investors wanted to see, increasing pressure on policymakers. The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.65%, reflecting these concerns.
