Wall Street Futures Rise on Rate Cut Hopes; Nvidia Earnings in Focus

Futures up on September rate-cut hopes; Nvidia results in view

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday, with investors focused mainly on results from AI-favorite Nvidia and a key inflation report due later in the week, while confidence in a September interest-rate cut by the central bank remained high. Markets lauded Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Friday, when he said "the time has come" to lower borrowing costs in the light of diminishing upside risk to inflation and moderating labor demand. The main indexes rallied more than 1% in the previous session, with the S&P 500 and the Dow less than 1% from their respective record highs. Rate-sensitive small caps logged their strongest day in six week, as equities continued to pare losses from the early August market rout. Traders are now betting on a 25-basis-point or 50-basis-point rate cut in September. Odds of the former have dropped to 63.5%, from more than 70% in the previous week, while odds of a 50-bps cut have risen to 36.5%, from about 30% last week, according to the CME Group's Fed Watch tool. Attention will turn to Friday's July Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the central bank's preferred inflation gauge. At 05:28 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 15 points, or 0.04%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 9.25 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 47.75 points, or 0.24%. As earnings season draws to a close, chip designer Nvidia, whose results are scheduled on Wednesday, traded nearly 1% higher in premarket trading. Markets have been less forgiving this quarter of highly valued megacap stocks, which spearheaded the excitement around artificial intelligence. They will scrutinize Nvidia's earnings to justify the stock's more than 160% year-to-date jump, which pushed its market cap value to No. 2, just below that of Apple, as of Friday's close. Results from Dell, Salesforce, Dollar General and Gap are also awaited through the week. Comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, a Federal Open Market Committee voting member this year, are due later in the day. With the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East in the spotlight, crude prices climbed over 1%. Among others, BJ's Wholesale Club rose 1.4% after brokerage J.P.Morgan lifted its rating on the club operator to "neutral" from "underweight". B Riley Financial dropped 1.8% after the lender announced a notification of delinquency with the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

Futures up on September rate-cut hopes; Nvidia results in view

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday, with investors focused mainly on results from AI-favorite Nvidia and a key inflation report due later in the week, while confidence in a September interest-rate cut by the central bank remained high. Markets lauded Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Friday, when he said "the time has come" to lower borrowing costs in the light of diminishing upside risk to inflation and moderating labor demand. The main indexes rallied more than 1% in the previous session, with the S&P 500 and the Dow less than 1% from their respective record highs. Rate-sensitive small caps logged their strongest day in six week, as equities continued to pare losses from the early August market rout. Traders are now betting on a 25-basis-point or 50-basis-point rate cut in September. Odds of the former have dropped to 63.5%, from more than 70% in the previous week, while odds of a 50-bps cut have risen to 36.5%, from about 30% last week, according to the CME Group's Fed Watch tool. Attention will turn to Friday's July Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the central bank's preferred inflation gauge. At 05:28 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 15 points, or 0.04%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 9.25 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 47.75 points, or 0.24%. As earnings season draws to a close, chip designer Nvidia , whose results are scheduled on Wednesday, traded nearly 1% higher in premarket trading. Markets have been less forgiving this quarter of highly valued megacap stocks, which spearheaded the excitement around artificial intelligence. They will scrutinize Nvidia's earnings to justify the stock's more than 160% year-to-date jump, which pushed its market cap value to No. 2, just below that of Apple, as of Friday's close. Results from Dell, Salesforce, Dollar General and Gap are also awaited through the week. Comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, a Federal Open Market Committee voting member this year, are due later in the day. With the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East in the spotlight, crude prices climbed over 1%. Among others, BJ's Wholesale Club rose 1.4% after brokerage J.P.Morgan lifted its rating on the club operator to "neutral" from "underweight". B Riley Financial dropped 1.8% after the lender announced a notification of delinquency with the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

Morning Bid: Pre-Nvidia hesitation obscures record high

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan Wall Street stocks are back just shy of new record highs, lapping up the likely start of Federal Reserve easing next month but wary of Wednesday's quarterly update from artificial intelligence behemoth Nvidia. There were three main reasons cited for this month's early "head fake" for stocks - a return of jobs-related recession worries, a puncturing of the short-yen, short-volatility trade and creeping doubts about AI overspend and its ultimate promise. Recession fears have been doused to some extent by data seen since the July employment report and Fed chair Jerome Powell's clear indication on Friday that "the time has come" to ease back on policy rates. And the speculative yen 'carry trade' and excessively low volatility gauges have returned close to more normal levels. But earnings from $3.1 trillion megacap Nvidia, the second most valuable U.S. stock, are now awaited with bated breath to see if the AI theme is still on track. Nvidia, whose stock is up more than 150% this year, is expected to report more than a doubling of its second-quarter revenue but the bar is now so high to impress the market, there's some trepidation about guidance ahead. The stock is valued at about 37 times its forward earnings, compared with an average of around 29 for the top six tech companies on the benchmark index that includes the chipmaker. Results from Dell and Salesforce this week also add to the tech picture. Nvidia shares fell back about 2% on Monday in advance of its report, knocking back the main indexes in the process and stopping the S&P500 less than 0.3% from new records. But it was up marginally ahead of Tuesday's bell - as were index futures. Facing a heavy week of Treasury debt sales, where some $183 billion of 2-, 5- and 7-year notes go under the hammer, Treasury yields have backed up slightly despite the Fed optimism. First out of the traps on Tuesday is $69 billion of two-year paper. Irking Treasury yields additionally has been a pop higher in world crude oil prices this week amid renewed tensions in the Middle East and outages in Libya, although U.S. crude gains have been modest and remain negative year-on-year. The latest test of U.S. economic resilience comes with a readout later on consumer confidence for August, but Friday's release of the Fed-favored PCE inflation gauge probably marks the biggest macro data release of the week. The dollar index recovered marginally from Monday's lowest level in more than year - in line with firmer Treasury yields. But 100 basis points of Fed easing remains in futures prices to the end of the year - implying that markets think at least one of the Fed's three remaining 2024 meetings will deliver a 50bp cut. San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly on Monday said "the time is upon us" to cut interest rates, likely starting with a quarter-percentage point reduction in borrowing costs. Asked if there is anything that could derail a rate cut at the U.S. central bank's Sept. 17-18 policy meeting, Daly told Bloomberg TV that it "would be hard to imagine at this point." The yen slipped back too, however, helping Japan's Nikkei higher. Chinese mainland stock markets fell back, with news of 100% Canadian tariffs weighing on shares of electric vehicle and steel makers and downbeat comments about domestic demand dragging on e-commerce shares. It was a more mixed picture in Hong Kong, with financials steadying the Hang Seng. European stocks were higher, led by miners. BHP Group said it will focus on growing its copper business through existing and incoming projects after its failed attempt to buy Anglo American as it reported a better-than-expected 2% rise in annual underlying profit. Key developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Tuesday: * US August consumer confidence, June home prices, Richmond Fed Aug business surveys, Dallas Fed's Aug service sector survey

S&P 500, Dow set for higher open on rate-cut optimism; Nvidia results in focus

Markets welcomed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Friday The S&P 500 and the Dow were poised for a slightly higher open on Monday, with markets focused on results from Nvidia and a key inflation report due later in the week, while investors were nervous about oil supplies from the Middle East being disrupted. Markets welcomed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Friday, when he said "the time has come" to lower borrowing costs in the light of diminishing upside risk to inflation and moderating labor demand. The main indexes rallied more than 1% in the previous session, with the S&P 500 and the Dow less than 1% from their respective record highs. Rate-sensitive small caps logged their strongest day in six week as equities continued to pare losses from the market rout in early August. Traders are now betting on either a 25-basis-point or a 50-basis-point rate cut in September. Odds of the former have dropped to 65.5% from more than 70% in the previous week, while odds of a 50-bps cut have risen to 34.5% from about 30% last week, according to the CME Group's Fed Watch tool. "The name of the game is the Fed. They did what the markets anticipated, so that's good news that they're going to start the easing cycle," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC. Attention will turn to the gross domestic product estimates for the second quarter and July's Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the central bank's preferred inflation gauge, due later in the week. At 8:56 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 80 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 8.5 points, or 0.15%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 17.5 points, or 0.09%. Futures tracking the rate-sensitive small-cap Russell 2000 index also added 0.8% on increased prospects of monetary easing in September. As earnings season draws to a close, chip designer and AI-favorite Nvidia, whose results are scheduled on Wednesday, traded flat in premarket trading. Markets have been less forgiving this quarter of highly valued megacap stocks, which spearheaded the excitement around artificial intelligence. They will scrutinize Nvidia's earnings to justify the stock's more than 160% year-to-date jump, which pushed its market cap value to No. 2, just below that of Apple, as of Friday's close. "The two concerns and risks are going to be their gross margins... and their guidance," Hayes said. Other chip stocks listed on the Nasdaq slipped, with Broadcom down 0.3%, Advanced Micro Devices off 0.7% and Micron declining 1.5%. Results from Dell, Salesforce, Dollar General and Gap are awaited through the week. Among top movers, oil companies such as Exxon, Occidental Petroleum and Halliburton gained more than 1% each, tracking a more than 2.6% jump in crude prices. Reports of production stoppages in Libya piled on to fears of supply disruptions from the Middle East as the geopolitical conflict continues. U.S.-listed shares of China's PDD Holdings sank 19% after the Temu-owner missed market expectations for second-quarter revenue. B Riley Financial dropped 3.3% after the lender announced a notification of delinquency with the Nasdaq. Comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, a Federal Open Market Committee voting member this year, are due later in the day. (Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

Wall Street Set For Pause Ahead Of Nvidia Earnings: What's Driving Futures - Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ), SPDR S&P 500 (ARCA:SPY)

The market has responded by noticeably tilting toward value, dividend-paying and smaller-cap stocks, he says. U.S. stocks are on track for a jittery start as traders brace for a few market-moving catalysts that will pan out over the next few sessions. The index futures were narrowly mixed in early trading. A couple of house price reading and the Conference Board's consumer confidence data may provide some cues but traders may remain mostly on the sidelines to see off Nvidia Corp.'s NVDA earnings and Friday's inflation data. Looking ahead to Nvidia's earnings, fund manager Louis Navellier said, "There may be more downside from under-delivering good news, than upside from better than hoped for news, given the stock has a P/E in the 70's." "Clearly, market momentum remains positive, with rate cuts the driver in the near term, and AI the longer-term driver," he added. In premarket trading on Tuesday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY dipped 0.05% to $560.52, and the Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ gained 0.01% to $475.38, according to Benzinga Pro data. Cues From Last Session Wall Street closed Monday's session on a mixed note, with tech weakness weighing down on the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 indices. The major averages all opened higher but fell sharply in early trading. While the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 indices moved sideways mostly below the unchanged line for the remainder of the session, the Dow Industrials held above the flatline, closing at a new record. The Russell 2,000 Index, which hovered in positive terrain for the bulk of the session, retreated in the final few minutes of trading and ended marginally lower. IT and consumer discretionary stocks were among the worst-performing S&P 500 sectors, while energy, consumer staple and utility stocks saw some strength. Insights From Analysts: Ahead of the September Fed meeting, WisdomTree Chief Economist and Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel said the overarching economic landscape is currently stable, given the stable jobless claims data and fairly strong housing market data. The market has responded by noticeably tilting toward value, dividend-paying and smaller-cap stocks. "This trend reflects a broader anticipation of decreasing interest rates, making bonds less attractive to stocks in comparison," the economist said. "It also suggests a potential shift in investor preference from high growth but volatile tech stocks, to more stocks paying good dividends, a realignment that could define the next phase of market behavior." Upcoming Economic Data The results of the S&P/Case-Shiller house price survey for June are due at 9 a.m. EDT. The Federal House Finance Agency will also release the results of a separate housing price survey around the same time. The Conference Board is due to announce the results of its consumer confidence survey for August at 10 a.m. EDT, with the headline consumer confidence index expected to rise slightly from 100.3 in July to 101 in August. The Treasury is set to auction two-year notes at 1 p.m. EDT. See also: Best Futures Trading Software Stocks In Focus: Paramount Global PARA fell over 3% in premarket trading after media veteran Edgar Bronfman, Jr., withdrew his offer for the company paving the way for it to combine with Skydance Media, LLC. CAVA Group, Inc. CAVA plunged over 7% after the company's post-earnings spike, with insider sales serving as the trigger. Ambarella, Inc. AMBA, Box, Inc. BOX, nCino, Inc. NCNO, Nordstrom, Inc. JWN, PVH Corp. PVH, Semtech Corporation SMTC and SentinelOne, Inc. S are among the companies due to release their quarterly results after the market close. Commodities, Bonds And Global Equity Markets: Crude oil futures pulled back after Monday's strong rally and gold futures fell modestly. Bitcoin BTC/USD retreated below the $62.5K level. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 2.1 basis points to 3.839%. Asian stocks went about a lackluster run on Tuesday, drawing inspiration from the mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, while the European markets rose modestly amid some sour data from the region. German Federal Statistical Office confirmed that the nation's economy contracted in the second quarter. Read Next: Top Nvidia Analyst Sees No Major Impact From Blackwell Delay, But Flags One Caveat He's Wary About Ahead Of Earnings Image Via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Dow hits all-time high while S&P and Nasdaq dip as rate cuts appear imminent

Traders and investors watched the Dow (DJI) tag an intraday all-time trading high on Monday as the index surpassed its previous 41,376 high, which was recorded back on July 18. Moreover, Wall Street averages are mixed as interest rate cuts seem imminent and mega cap chipmaker Nvidia's (NVDA) earnings report is slated for later in the week. Leading the way higher has been the blue-chip Dow (DJI) which is up 0.5%. Also, the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) ticked lower by 0.2%, and the tech focused Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) slipped by 1.0%. From a sector point of view, eight of the eleven 11 S&P segments find themselves trading in positive territory. The two areas that have advanced the most on the day so far have been Energy, with oil (CL1:COM) prices rising 3% and Materials. At the other end, Info Tech has suffered the most so far. The Treasury market has ticked lower, with the shorter end U.S. 2 Year Treasury yield (US2Y) falling by 1 basis point to 3.90%. At the same time, the longer end U.S. 10 Year Treasury yield (US10Y) moved down by 1 basis point to 3.79%. See how other yields trade across the entire yield curve here. On the economic front, durable goods orders soared 9.9% M/M to $289.6B in July, easily topping the +4.0% expected and rebounding from a 6.9% plunge in June, the U.S. Census Department said on Monday. The previous month's print was revised from -6.6%. The headline number increased in five of the last six months. Additionally, the Dallas Fed Manufacturing activity stayed in contraction in August, but eased M/M. Investors continue to digest Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments from Friday, where he said the central bank is set to start cutting interest rates from a two-decade high. "Powell's statements that 'the time has come for policy to adjust' and 'the direction of travel is clear', leave little doubt that further rate cuts will follow the first easing in September. Better late than never," Pantheon Macroeconomics said. As for stocks that are on the move, XPeng (XPEV) shares surged over 7% after Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng boosted his stake in the company to restore investor confidence. Moving the other way were shares of PDD Holdings (PDD) which fell 29.7% after Q2 results fell short of expectations. Revenue for the company was up 86% for the quarter that ended on June 30 to $13.36 billion, but it missed the consensus estimate by about $610 million. More on Markets Week Ahead: Inflation Gauges And Stretched U.S. Dollar Drop Earnings Growth: Supporting Markets As Volatility Subsides Jackson Hole Marks The Start Of The Rate Cut Era Vanguard is optimistic on AI but cautions about an investing learning curve Dovish Fed minutes opens the door for a 50-basis point rate cut - Standard Chartered

Dow hits record high on Fed-fueled rally before falling back to Earth

The Dow hit a record high, and the S&P 500 fell in choppy trading on Monday as markets cemented bets on an imminent rate cut by the Federal Reserve and awaited Nvidia results later in the week, while energy stocks were boosted after crude oil prices jumped. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged as much as 245 points to an intraday record of 41,420 before paring gains. Its previous record high was 41,376.00, reached on July 18. In recent trading, the blue chip index advanced 17 points to 41,192. The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq slipped 0.8%. The blue-chip index led gains among peers and hit an intraday record high as markets welcomed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Friday, when he said "the time has come" to lower borrowing costs in the light of diminishing upside risk to inflation and moderating labor demand. The main indexes rallied more than 1% in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P 500 also nearing record highs. Rate-sensitive small caps logged their strongest day in six week as equities continued to pare losses from the market rout in early August. Odds of a 25-basis-point rate cut stand at 69.5%, while those of a 50-bps cut are at 30.5%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. "The name of the game is the Fed. They did what the markets anticipated, so that's good news that they're going to start the easing cycle," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC. Attention will turn to the gross domestic product estimates for the second quarter and July's Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the central bank's preferred inflation gauge, due later in the week. A majority of the S&P 500 sectors advanced, led by a 1.7% rise in energy stocks, which hit a one-week high as crude prices jumped nearly 3%. Reports of production stoppages in Libya piled on to fears of supply disruptions from the Middle East as the geopolitical conflict continued. As earnings season draws to a close, chip designer and AI-favorite Nvidia, whose results are scheduled on Wednesday, traded up 0.4%. Markets have been less forgiving this quarter of highly valued megacap stocks, which spearheaded the excitement around artificial intelligence. They will scrutinize Nvidia's earnings to justify the stock's more than 160% year-to-date jump, which pushed its market cap value to No. 2, just below that of Apple, as of Friday's close. "The two concerns and risks are going to be their (Nvidia's) gross margins... and their guidance," Hayes said. Results from Dell, Salesforce, Dollar General and Gap are expected through the week. Limiting gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, US-listed shares of PDD Holdings sank 27% after the Temu-owner missed market expectations for second-quarter revenue. Boeing slipped 0.4% after NASA picked SpaceX over the planemaker's Starliner to return its astronauts from space next year.