Nasdaq leads Wall St futures higher on AI optimism after Micron's forecast
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Futures up: Dow 0.47%, S&P 500 0.76%, Nasdaq 1.33%
Sept 26 (Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, as a wave of optimism around artificial intelligence gripped Wall Street following Micron's upbeat forecast, while investors also awaited economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Micron Technology MU.O jumped 15.8% in premarket trading after the memory chip maker forecast higher than expected first-quarter revenue, underscoring that demand for memory chips used in AI computing was robust.
Other chip stocks also gained, with Nvidia NVDA.O rising 1.2%, Advanced Micro Devices advancing 2.2% AMD.O and Broadcom AVGO.O adding 1.7%.
Meta META.O led gains among other growth names, with a 1.7% rise, a day after unveiling an entry-level version of its Quest line of mixed-reality headsets. Alphabet GOOGL.O added 1%, Tesla TSLA.O climbed 1.3% and Microsoft MSFT.O was up 0.7%.
At 05:21 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 197 points, or 0.47%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 43.5 points, or 0.76% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 268.25 points, or 1.33%.
Futures tracking the Russell 2000 small caps index RTYc1 added 0.83%.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and blue-chip Dow .DJI have hit multiple record highs since the start of this year and the tech-laden Nasdaq .IXIC is about 3% away from its own milestone as investors lap up shares of companies that could see a boost to earnings from AI-integration.
Expectations of lower interest rates have further strengthened the rally. Focus will now be on jobless claims data for the week ended Sept. 21 and a final second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate. The reports are due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Late on Wednesday, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said she "strongly supported" the central bank's decision to kick off monetary policy easing with a rare half a percentage point cut last week, as part of an emerging focus on the job market.
The spotlight will now be on Powell's remarks at a New York conference expected before the market opens as investors look for clues on the outlook for the economy and the pace of further easing.
Odds of a 50 basis-point reduction in interest rates in November are at 60.8%, compared with 38.8% a week ago, as per the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
Traders also await remarks from a host of Fedofficials, including John Williams, Michael Barr, Michelle Bowman and Neel Kashkari.
Among others, copper miners such as Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N rose 3.5%, while lithium miners such as Albemarle climbed 3.8% ALB.N and Arcadium ALTM.N added 2.3% after a report said China plans to issue special sovereign bonds worth about 2 trillion yuan as part of a fresh fiscal stimulus.
The optimism also spread to U.S.-listed Chinese firms such as Li Auto that advanced 6.7% LI.O, PDD Holdings PDD.O rose 7% and Alibaba BABA.N added 5.3%.
AI frenzy boosts Micron's revenue growth https://reut.rs/3TENzLG
Fed views of the rate cut ending https://reut.rs/4de1H5H
Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva
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