Premarket: World stocks steady as Nvidia outlook lifts tech shares
Stocks steadied on Thursday after Nvidia’s strong sales growth forecast bolstered technology shares, while geopolitical uncertainty and data showing the Federal Reserve’s preferred U.S. inflation measure is stubbornly high subdued trade elsewhere.
European technology stocks led sectoral gains, up 1.3 per cent. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down about 0.1 per cent and the MSCI All Country World Index was little changed. Technology-heavy Asian markets were mostly firmer.
On Wednesday, Nvidia forecast a roughly 70 per cent jump in revenue in the fiscal year ending January 2028, well above analysts’ expectations. The chipmaker also said shortages of memory components would continue to limit the pace at which it can expand production.
“Nvidia’s earnings can’t be ignored,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, noting the sales outlook made the difference.
“No matter how high the expectations were, no matter how much higher the whisper numbers sat, Nvidia managed to beat all of these expectations.”
Nvidia’s Frankfurt-listed shares rose 6 per cent, lifting Wall Street futures.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan was up 0.3 per cent, stretching its gains into a third consecutive day.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.5 per cent, paring earlier gains after the Bank of Korea raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3 per cent, in line with market views that narrowly expected a hike.
Taiwanese shares rose 0.3 per cent, while the Nikkei 225 slid 0.2 per cent.
Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures rose 0.8 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively after a weaker close the day before when the personal consumption expenditures index rose 0.2 per cent in July compared with the prior month after a 0.1 per cent decline a month earlier.
“While July core PCE inflation came in line with consensus, the details of the release were more inflationary,” wrote Jim Reid, global head of macro research at Deutsche Bank.
He added that the strong economic momentum signalled by durable goods orders and GDP data was hard to reconcile with the view that monetary policy remains restrictive.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond was down 2 basis points at 4.644 per cent as markets awaited Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday for further clues on the path for U.S. interest rates.
Brent crude futures were down 1.1 per cent at US$86.8, on track to fall for a fourth consecutive day as Qatar’s prime minister prepares to visit Tehran on Thursday to try to relaunch peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.
“Crude oil prices continued to gradually ease despite a still highly uncertain outlook around management of the Strait of Hormuz and the current health of global oil supply, especially in light of renewed threats of escalation from Putin in the Russia-Ukraine war,” Westpac analysts wrote.
Gold edged up 0.1 per cent to around US$4,598 an ounce after a retreat on Wednesday.
In cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin rose 0.5 per cent at US$78,802 after briefly topping the US$80,000 mark this week for the first time in more than three months. Ether climbed 0.8 per cent to US$2,493.
All three are benefiting from the revival of what are known as “dollar debasement trades” after the U.S. Treasury Department intervened in bond markets last week, and for the month are up 14 per cent, 25 per cent and 34 per cent respectively. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency’s strength against a basket of six other currencies, was steady at 99.14, near its highest level over the past week.
Reuters
