S&P, Nasdaq futures climb as Nvidia stretches rally

[June 20, 2024]  (Reuters) - Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures jumped on Thursday as Nvidia extended its rally while investors returning from the Juneteenth holiday waited for economic data and commentary from Federal Reserve officials to firm up bets on interest rate cuts this year.

A Wall St. street sign is seen near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Nvidia gained 3.4% in premarket trading, after the semiconductor bellwether surpassed Microsoft in the previous session to become the world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion.

The continued surge to new peaks by the artificial intelligence (AI) chip leader and softer-than-expected U.S. retail sales data pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record highs on Tuesday.

Investors will now shift focus to more economic data later in the day including building permits and housing starts number for May, jobless claims for the week ended June 15 and the Philly Fed Business Index.

Comments from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari at 0845 ET will also be on investors' watch for any outlook on interest rates. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly are also due to speak after the closing bell.

Money markets currently see a 66% chance of an interest rate cut by the U.S. central bank in September, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Yields on the two-year Treasury note, which closely reflect the interest rate expectations, and those on the benchmark 10-year note were up 3-4 basis points.

At 5:23 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 22 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 21.25 points, or 0.38%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 124 points, or 0.61%.

Among other movers, shares of Dell Technologies climbed 3% and those of Super Micro Computer rose 3.2% after Elon Musk said on social media platform X that the companies would provide server racks for the supercomputer that his startup xAI is building.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise was up 2.4%. Britain's competition regulator said on Wednesday it was investigating whether the company's planned $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks would result in competition concerns.

Enphase Energy shares were down 2.7% after J.P. Morgan cut its target price to $124 from $128 earlier.

(This story has been corrected to fix Nvidia's market capitalization figure from $3.22 trillion to $3.34 trillion in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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