The S&P 500 futures are up 10 points (0.2%), Nasdaq 100 futures are up 45 points (0.3%), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 260 points (0.6%).
There's a positive trend this morning. A solid pre-open gain in Salesforce (CRM, Financial) after reporting earnings has boosted Dow industrial futures. Despite a decline in NVIDIA (NVDA, Financial) shares after its earnings report, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures are performing well. NVDA's results exceeded expectations, but the stock was already up 153% this year.
Other major tech stocks are also rising, contributing to the positive trend.
Treasury yields are mostly unchanged. The 10-year note yield is down one basis point to 3.83%, and the 2-year note yield is down one basis point to 3.86%.
Today's economic data includes:
Today's News
Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) was in the spotlight on Thursday after reporting second-quarter results and guidance that topped estimates, leading to much praise from Wall Street firms. Despite this, shares fell roughly 3% in premarket trading. Other semiconductor stocks, such as AMD, Arm, Broadcom, and Taiwan Semiconductor, also moved lower. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives noted that Nvidia's earnings call was "very insightful" for those skeptical about the AI-related hype, emphasizing the immediate ROI customers are seeing on Nvidia's GPUs.
Uber Technologies (UBER, Financial) has made a strategic investment in Wayve, extending the AI tech company’s Series C fundraising round. With Uber's additional funding, Wayve plans to accelerate work with global OEMs to enhance consumer vehicles with Level 2+ advanced driver assistance and Level 3 automated driving capabilities. The partnership envisions future Wayve-powered self-driving vehicles being available on Uber’s network in multiple markets worldwide.
The U.S. Department of Commerce revised the Q2 GDP growth to +3.0% from the initial estimate of +2.8%, significantly higher than the 1.4% growth in Q1 2024. The update primarily reflected an upward revision to consumer spending. Q2 PCE prices increased by 2.5%, lower than the initial estimate and slower than the 3.4% increase in Q1. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index rose by 2.8%, indicating a slight cooling in inflationary pressures.
Stock index futures saw a recovery on Thursday, driven by buying interest in Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) despite an initial selloff. The VIX (VIX) fell 6% after a 10% spike overnight. Nvidia's shares were down 2% after initially dropping 7% despite beating forecasts and issuing solid guidance. The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) gained 2 basis points to 3.86%, while the 2-year yield (US2Y) rose 1 basis point to 3.88%.
J.P. Morgan analysts highlighted Nvidia's (NVDA, Financial) strength in the data center, positively impacting server makers like Dell (DELL, Financial), Super Micro Computer (SMCI, Financial), and HP Enterprise (HPE, Financial). Growth was noted across all customer types, with large Cloud customers accounting for ~45% of datacenter revenue. Nvidia also emphasized the growing demand for liquid cooling, especially for Grace Blackwell deployments.
CrowdStrike's (CRWD, Financial) stock fell about 2% premarket despite a second-quarter beat, as analysts weighed the potential impact of a global IT outage on future quarters. BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating and $365 price target, noting the company's solid Q2 results but focusing on the outage's impact on Q3 and Q4 estimates for fiscal year 2025.
Morgan Stanley reported a downward revision to Dell Technologies' (DELL, Financial) AI server build plans for calendar year 2024/fiscal 2025 due to shipment delays and pushouts. The firm maintained its Overweight rating but lowered the price target to $136 from $142. The revision was mainly due to project delays, not competitive losses or share shifts away from Dell.
Salesforce (CRM, Financial) shares surged 5% after reporting Q2 results and guidance that exceeded expectations. The company anticipates adjusted EPS between $2.42 and $2.44 for Q3, slightly above consensus. Salesforce maintained its FY2025 sales outlook but raised its EPS guidance, reflecting strong operational performance and increased operating cash flow growth guidance.
Dollar General Corporation (DG, Financial) slumped in early trading Thursday after missing consensus estimates with its Q2 earnings report and slashing its full-year guidance. Revenue rose 4.2% year-over-year to $10.2 billion, driven by new store sales and a 0.5% growth in same-store sales. However, gross profit fell to 30.0% of sales, primarily due to increased markdowns and inventory damages.
European electric car registrations of battery-electric cars declined by 10.8% in July, with the total market share slipping to 12.1% from 13.5% a year before. Despite gains in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, Germany’s decline could not be offset. Hybrid-electric vehicles saw growth, with registrations rising by 25.7% in July, driven by double-digit gains in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
Gain Therapeutics (GANX, Financial) fell ~12% premarket after posting initial data from a Phase 1 trial for its lead asset GT-02287 targeted at Parkinson’s disease. The study indicated that the therapy was safe and generally well tolerated across all age groups. The company plans to begin a trial for Parkinson’s disease patients by Q4 2024, with data expected by mid-2025.
Apple (AAPL, Financial) was named Citi's top AI-related stock pick going into 2025, ahead of Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) and Arista Networks (ANET). Early developer feedback on iOS 18 beta AI features has been positive, providing a compelling reason for consumers to upgrade their iPhones. Apple is expected to announce new products, including the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods, at its annual fall event on Sept. 9.
Nvidia's (NVDA, Financial) recent earnings call highlighted the importance of liquid cooling and the growing demand for its AI solutions, positively impacting companies like Dell (DELL, Financial), Super Micro Computer (SMCI, Financial), and HP Enterprise (HPE, Financial). Analysts emphasized the strong growth in Nvidia's data center revenue, driven by large Cloud customers.
PayPal Holdings (PYPL) expanded its global strategic partnership with Fiserv (FI), aiming to streamline how Fiserv's merchant clients enable PayPal experiences for their customers. The expanded partnership is expected to enhance PayPal's service offerings and improve customer experiences.
Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended Aug. 24 fell by 2K to 231K, slightly below the 230K consensus. The four-week moving average decreased to 231,500, indicating a stable labor market. Continuing claims increased to 1.868M, slightly below the expected 1.870M, maintaining an insured unemployment rate of 1.2%.
Republican Senator Rick Scott questioned Intel (INTC, Financial) CEO Pat Gelsinger about the company's plan to cut over 15,000 jobs despite receiving $20B in federal funding. Scott expressed concerns about the effective allocation of taxpayer funds and requested specifics on the number of U.S. employees affected and how the job cuts might influence Intel's planned semiconductor investments.
Merck (MRK, Financial) is discontinuing two late-stage trials evaluating Keytruda-based therapies for cancer treatment due to an unfavorable benefit/risk profile. The Phase 3 KEYNOTE-867 trial and KEYNOTE-630 trial were stopped based on recommendations from an independent Data Monitoring Committee, which highlighted higher rates of adverse events and lack of improvement in primary endpoints.
GuruFocus Stock Analysis
- Why Nu Holdings Still Has Room to Run by Muslim Farooque
- Will Nvidia Continue to Dominate? by Yiannis Zourmpanos
- Salesforce Is a Resilient CRM Leader With Strong Growth and an Attractive Valuation by Lucas Wong
- Apple's High Valuation: A Bull Trap in the Making? by Sheraden Frances
