S&P 500, Nasdaq futures climb on chips, megacaps boost
By Johann M Cherian and Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) -Futures tracking the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Thursday, buoyed by chip stocks, while investors kept an eye out for clues on the timing of interest rate cuts and the economic outlook as more earnings roll in.
U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) jumped 5.5% in premarket trading after the world's largest contract semiconductor maker projected a more than 20% growth in 2024 revenue on booming demand for high-end chips used in artificial intelligence applications.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP), Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL) Technology and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) rose between 1.6% and 3.2%.
Megacap stocks such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) also gained around 1% each, as U.S. Treasury yields ticked lower.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) climbed 1.6% after BofA Global Research upgraded the iPhone-maker's stock to «buy» from «neutral».
The S&P 500 ended its second session in the red on Wednesday, moving farther away from its highest intraday level notched in 2022 after a strong December retail sales figure, and as policymakers continue to talk down hopes for an early start to interest rate cuts.
«We've seen a concerted effort from assorted central bankers to dial back expectation of early rate cuts… and some solid U.S. retail sales numbers torpedoed the idea that we would see early rate cuts in March,» said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets (LON:CMCX).
The U.S. Federal Reserve is walking a tightrope to bring inflation under control without causing a growth slowdown, as the central bank's «Beige Book» report, a snapshot of the economy's health, showed economic
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