Tech Stocks May Lead Early Rally On Wall Street On Upbeat Nvidia Results

After ending the previous session moderately lower, stocks are likely to show a strong move back to the upside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets.

Technology stocks are likely to lead the advance following upbeat quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA), with the Nasdaq 100 futures surging by 1.2 percent.

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) are soaring by 7.0 percent in pre-market trading after the AI darling reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Nvidia also announced a ten-for-one stock split of its common stock and increased its quarterly cash dividend by 150 percent to $0.10 per share.

However, concerns about the outlook for interest rates may continue to hang over the broader markets following yesterday’s slightly hawkish Fed minutes.

With the minutes signaling rates are likely to remain higher for longer than previously expected, the chances rates will be lower by September have fallen to 68.6 percent, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Potentially adding to the rate concerns, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended May 18th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slid to 215,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 223,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 220,000 from the 222,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Not long after the start of trading, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on new home sales in the month of April. Economists expect new home sales to pull back by 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 680,000 in April after soaring by 8.8 percent to a rate of 693,000 in March.

Stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading session on Wednesday before coming under pressure following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but ended the day in the red after ending Tuesday’s choppy trading session modestly higher.

The Dow slid 201.95 points or 0.5 percent to 39,671.04, the S&P 500 fell 14.40 points or 0.3 percent to 5,307.01 and the Nasdaq dipped 31.08 points or 0.2 percent at 16,801.54.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.3 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is just above the unchanged line, the German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.71 to $78.28 a barrel after tumbling $1.09 to $77.57 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after plunging $33 to $2,392.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slumping $22.70 to $2,370.20 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 156.70 yen versus the 156.80 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0847 compared to yesterday’s $1.0823.