Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor. Nvidia Corp.'s (NASDAQ:NVDA) strong earnings will likely catalyze a sharp rally in the tech space and the broader market on Thursday, with the Nasdaq futures solidly higher in the premarket session. Traders may also look for cues from retail earnings reports as well as data on jobless claims and durable goods orders due ahead of the market open. Federal Reserve officials who give interviews at Jackson Hole may also sway the sentiment of the session.
Cues From Wednesday's Trading:
Stocks advanced solidly on Wednesday, as they rode on expectations of a strong earnings report from Nvidia and hopes of a rate cut after private sector activity readings for August came in weaker than expected.
The major averages opened higher and rose steadily through the remainder of the session before ending notably higher. The positive sentiment pervaded into the small-cap space, as the Russell 2,000 Index ignored a weaker start and launched into a rally shortly after the open.
The market witnessed broad-based strength, except for energy stocks, which did not participate in the rally. The gains were led by communication services, IT, IT services and real estate stocks.
US Index Performance On Tuesday
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | +1.59% | 13,721.03 |
| S&P 500 Index | +1.10% | 4,436.01 |
| Dow Industrials | +0.54% | 34,472.98 |
| Russell 2000 | +1.04% | 1,870.03 |
Analyst Color:
“The bull market is intact and this August sloppiness is at the highest level of messiness,” said Fund Strat analyst Tom Lee.
The analyst reiterated his view that August is a trickier time to be tactical, given the reduced market liquidity. As the end of the month nears and equities remain oversold due to the recent weakness, the analyst said he sees a safer window for stocks post-Jackson Hole after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments. The possible “hawkish surprise” by Powell would be in the rearview mirror, he added.
If the Fed chair makes a dovish comment, stocks could record back-to-back gains following a Nvidia-induced rally on Thursday, Lee said.
Futures Today
Futures Performance On Thursday
| Futures | Performance (+/-) |
| Nasdaq 100 | +1.17% |
| S&P 500 | +0.59% |
| Dow | -0.04% |
| R2K | -0.06% |
In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) soared 0.56% to $445.53 and the Invesco QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) gained 1.22% to $373.62, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Upcoming Economic Data:
With the Jackson Hole Symposium kickstarting, the markets could look for cues from media interviews from Fed officials.
The Labor Department is scheduled to release its weekly jobless claims data at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists, on average, expect claims to have increased by 240,000 in the week ended Aug. 19 compared to 239,00 in the week ended Aug.12.
The Commerce Department will release its durable goods orders report for July at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Durable goods orders may have fallen by 4% month-over-month in July, reversing most of the 4.7% gain in June. Core durable goods orders, which strip off transportation orders, may have risen 0.2% compared to a 0.6% increase in June.
The Kansas Fed is due to release its manufacturing and composite indices for August at 11 a.m. EDT.
The Treasury will auction four- and eight-week bills at 11:30 a.m. EDT and 30-year TIPS at 1 p.m. EDT.
See also: Best Futures Trading Software
Stocks In Focus:
- Nvidia surged up about 7.80% in premarket trading following its second-quarter print. The solid earnings report has triggered buying momentum in several AI-levered stocks and the broader tech sector as well.
- Among the other stocks reacting to earnings include Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) (up over 6%). Splunk, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLK) (up about 14%), Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) (up about 15%) and Snowflake, Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) (up about 3.6%).
- NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES), Weibo Corp. (NASDAQ:WB), Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL), Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NYSE:HAIN), and Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) are among the companies releasing their quarterly results before the market open.
- Those reporting after the close include Intuit, Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA), Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) and Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS).
Crude oil futures slipped 0.37% to $79.18 in early European session on Thursday after pulling back 1.82% on Wednesday.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged up 0.008 percentage points to 4.206% on Thursday after slipping below the 4.2% in the previous session.
Most Asian averages ended higher on Thursday, tracking the positive lead from Wall Street overnight. The indices, which are tech-heavy, such as the Shenzhen Index of China, South Korea's Kospi, and the Taiwanese Weighted Average, rose notably. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was among the best performers in the region, clocking a gain in excess of 2%.
On the other hand, the Indian, Indonesia and New Zealand markets retreated.
European stocks traded moderately higher in late-morning deals on Thursday.
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