The Nasdaq futures are up 550 points on Thursday morning Indian time, comfortably outperforming the Dow futures, which are up 50 points and the S&P 500 futures, which are also up by a similar quantum as the Dow futures.
In regular trading, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended the session lower, while the Dow Jones ended 180 points higher, not before cooling off over 350 points from the day’s high and trading above the mark of 52,000 intraday.
Why Are The Nasdaq Futures Up 550 Points?
Memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology reported a blowout quarter, with its revenue quadrupling and its core data center business reporting a seven-fold jump in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.
Both revenue and Earnings Per Share (EPS) for Micron were well above analyst expectations, as was its guidance for the fourth quarter of its ongoing fiscal year, where it expects revenue to cross $50 billion, while analysts were working with a figure of $43.58 billion.
As a result of this strong quarter, shares of Micron jumped 14% in extended trading. The stock has already risen 700% over the last 12 months.
Boost From Micron’s Results
The impact of Micron’s strong results have also been felt by its memory chip making peers, all of whom saw an equally sharp surge in afterhours trading on Wall Street.
Shares of both Sandisk and Western Digital surged 11% each after the close of regular trading. Both the stocks had declined between 2.5% to 4% in regular trade. Sandisk is up nearly 600% so far this year, while Western Digital is up 240%.
Shares of Qualcomm also surged after Micron’s results. The company had held its own investor day on Wednesday where it projected $15 billion from Data Center sales by 2029, but the stock ended the regular session with losses of over 3%. However, shares are up 13% in extended trading after Micron’s results.
Wall Street Banks Pass Stress Test
All 32 major banks of Wall Street cleared the Federal Reserve Stress Test for the year. As soon as they cleared the test, they boosted payouts for their shareholders.
All major lenders increased their quarterly dividend payouts for shareholders by 10-15 cents. The board of JPMorgan also approved a $50 billion share buyback plan, while Morgan Stanley authorised a multi-year, $20 billion buyback plan with no expiration date.
What Is The Biggest US Market Trigger For Thursday?
While the reversal in the chip stocks sell-off will take the spotlight after Micron’s results, the focus will also be on the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) inflation, which will be reported later this evening.
PCE inflation is an important metric as it is the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge to determine further policy action.
Economists expect the PCE inflation to rise between 0.4% to 0.5% month-on-month and between 4% to 4.1% year-on-year, well above the Federal Reserve’s target. Core PCE is also seen rising 0.3% month-on-month and 3.4% year-on-year, as per estimates.
