U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday as AI bellwether Nvidia's upbeat forecast soothed concerns of cooling demand in the industry, while investors gauged the implications of the Trump administration's latest threats on global trade.
Market Snapshot
At 07:53 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 114 points, or 0.26%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 37.25 points, or 0.62%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 169.75 points, or 0.8%.
Pre-Market Movers
Vistra stock was rising 7% in premarket trading Thursday after the energy company reported strong fourth-quarter earnings and reiterated its full-year guidance.
Nvidia reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 89 cents a share, beating analysts' estimates of 85 cents, and revenue in the period rose 78% to $39.3 billion on demand for the company's artificial-intelligence chips. Data center revenue was $35.6 billion, up 93% year over year. Nvidia said it expected first-quarter revenue of around $43 billion, higher than consensus of $42.1 billion. "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," said Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and CEO. Huang also said demand for Nvidia's latest generation Blackwell chips was "amazing." Nvidia was rising 3.2% in premarket trading.
Tesla rose 2.3%. The stock declined 4% on Wednesday, extending its losing streak to five trading sessions. Shares of the electric-vehicle maker have fallen almost 20% during the streak. Weak U.S. and European sales data as well as CEO Elon Musk's time spent spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration have been pressuring the shares.
Salesforce reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.78 a share, beating analysts' expectations of $2.61, but the maker of customer-relationship-management software was falling 3% after issuing light guidance for fiscal 2026. Salesforce said it expects fiscal-year sales of $40.5 billion to $40.9 billion, below analysts' estimates of $41.37 billion.
Snowflake jumped 13% after the cloud-based data storage company reported fourth-quarter earnings of 30 cents a share on revenue of $986.8 million, beating Wall Street estimates for earnings of 18 cents on revenue of $957 million. The company said it expects fiscal first-quarter product revenue of $955 million to $960 million versus estimates of $961 million. For the fiscal year, Snowflake anticipates product revenue of $4.28 billion, higher than estimates of $4.23 billion.
Moderna fell 4.3% following a Bloomberg report that said the Health and Human Services Department was re-evaluating the company's $590 million contract to develop a bird flu vaccine. The contract awarded to Moderna in the final days of the Biden administration was to accelerate the development of potential messenger RNA-based vaccines in case of a H5N1 avian influenza pandemic.
Super Micro Computer fell 0.4% in premarket trading. Shares jumped 12% on Wednesday after Super Micro filed its long-awaited financial accounts, removing the threat of delisting that has hung over the AI server maker for the past few months.
C3.ai, the enterprise software company, posted an adjusted fiscal third-quarter loss of 12 cents a share, narrower than the loss of 25 cents expected by analysts. Revenue rose 26% to $98.8 million and beat forecasts. For the fiscal year, C3.ai guided for an adjusted loss from operations of $87 million to $97 million, wider than the loss of $80.6 million expected by Wall Street. Shares fell 4.8%.
Shares of eBay were down 8.2% after the online marketplace issued fiscal first-quarter revenue guidance below analysts' expectations. EBay said it sees first-quarter revenue of between $2.52 billion and $2.56 billion versus predictions of $2.59 billion. The company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings rose 2.4% after the cruise operator reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 26 cents a share, better than estimates of 11 cents.
Pure Storage, the data storage company, reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations. Revenue in the period was $879.8 million, better than consensus estimates of $869.2 million. The company said it expects fiscal 2026 revenue of $3.51 billion versus estimates of $3.52 billion. Shares were down 8.4%.
Paramount Global swung to a loss in the fourth quarter and revenue rose 5% to $7.94 billion but missed analysts' estimates of $8.1 billion. Revenue at the entertainment company's direct-to-consumer segment, which includes its Paramount+ streaming service, rose 8% from a year earlier to $2.01 billion. Paramount Global fell 2.5%.
Cloud computing company Nutanix jumped 16% after posting fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' forecasts.
Teladoc Health tumbled 11% after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of 28 cents a share, wider than analysts' calls for a loss of 24 cents. Revenue of $640 million was roughly in line with Wall Street forecasts. For its fiscal first quarter, Teladoc said it expects revenue of between $608 million and $629 million versus analysts' expectations of $632.9 million.
Market News
Norwegian Cruise Line's annual profit forecast below estimates despite steady demand
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings forecast annual profit below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, signaling that the cruise operator will have to ramp up its cost-saving efforts amid strong demand from leisure travelers.
Shares of the Oceania Cruises operator rose 2% before the bell on the back of the company beating quarterly profit estimates.
Warner Bros Discovery expects streaming unit to reach 150 million subscribers by 2026
Warner Bros Discovery said on Thursday its streaming service will have at least 150 million users by 2026, after Max's global expansion powered stronger-than-expected subscriber gains in the fourth quarter.
The rebranding of HBO Max to Max and its international launches have been central to the company's efforts to boost streaming service subscriptions in a hyper-competitive market.
