Stock futures pointed higher Thursday as tech shares surged on record earnings from AI chipmaking giant TSMC, while oil prices sank as President Donald Trump dialed down the threat of a U.S. military strike on Iran.
Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up a respective 0.8%, 0.4%, and 0.1%.
Early Thursday, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), or TSMC, reported fourth-quarter profit increased 35% year-over-year. U.S.-listed shares of the world’s largest contract chipmaker surged 6.5% before the bell, and those of Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker ASML (ASML)—which gets a lot of business from TSMC—rose 6%.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, sank nearly 4% to $59.70 a barrel after President Donald Trump hinted yesterday afternoon that he could hold off on attacking Iran, something he had threatened earlier in the week.
Yesterday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower for a second straight session following the start of bank earnings season. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) stock has declined 5% the past two days after it reported fourth-quarter figures, and shares of its rivals Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) fell sharply yesterday after they reported their own fourth-quarter results.
BlackRock (BLK) shares advanced 2% in premarket trading after it reported Q4 results. Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) also were set to release earnings before the bell.
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), the world’s most valuable public company, rebounded nearly 2% after slipping 1.4% Wednesday as the Trump administration said it must meet new security requirements before exporting of its H200 AI chips to China.
Gold futures edged lower to $4,625 an ounce after hitting their latest record high yesterday. Silver futures set a fresh record of $93.75 an ounce early Thursday but were down slightly to $91.25 in recent trading.
Bitcoin was trading around $96,700, down slightly from the day’s high of about $97,700. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, was little changed at 99.14.