Futures Pointing To Sharply Higher Open On Upbeat Nvidia Earnings

Stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Thursday, extending the upward move seen late in the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a sharply higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 1.4 percent.

The markets are likely to benefit from a positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), as the chipmaker is spiking by 12.3 percent in pre-market trading.

Nvidia is rallying after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results amid strong demand for its chips to power artificial intelligence. The company also provided upbeat revenue guidance.

Shares of Nvidia have skyrocketed this year amid optimism about demand for its AI chips, and traders had been questioning whether its results would support further upside.

Ahead of the earnings news, Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell said Nvidia’s results could be “make or break time for markets” and said the company needed to “smash it out of the park and show that the AI boom still has momentum.”

The futures have seen further upside following the release of a Labor Department report showing an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended February 17th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 201,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 213,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 218,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With Federal Reserve officials signaling they are not in a hurry to begin cutting interest rates, signs of strength in the labor market may once again be seen as a positive for the markets.

Not long after the start of trading, the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its report on existing home sales in the month of January.

Existing home sales are expected to increase to an annual rate of 3.97 million in January after falling to a rate of 3.78 million in December.

Stocks spent…