US Stocks Likely To Open Higher After Nvidia's Blowout Earnings: 'This Is Still A Bull Market,' Says Expert

U.S. stock futures rose on Thursday following yet another mixed close on Wednesday. Futures all four benchmark indices advanced in premarket trading.

Nvidia Corp. NVDA beat earnings expectations and Jensen Huang said that the chipmaker was successfully ramping up the massive-scale production of Blackwell AI supercomputers. Data center revenue hit a record level again in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump stated that tariffs, including a 25% levy on automobiles, would be imposed on goods from the EU. Additionally, tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada will commence on April 2nd.

The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.31%, while the two-year yield was at 4.11%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, there is a 97.5% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for the March meeting.

Futures	Change (+/-)
Nasdaq 100	0.64%
S&P 500	0.56%
Dow Jones	0.27%
Russell 2000	0.74%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Thursday. SPY was up 0.55% to $597.80, and QQQ advanced 0.60% to $517.63, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From The Last Session

Information technology, utilities, communication services, and industrials were the only sectors that closed higher in trade on Wednesday, whereas consumer staples, health care, and real estate fell the most.

The stocks settled on a mixed note despite the S&P 500 breaking its three-day losing streak as Dow Jones fell on Wednesday.

On the economic front, new home sales plummeted 10.5% in January to 657,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, signaling continued weakness in the 2025 housing market. This represents a 1.1% year-over-year decline.

Salesforce Inc. CRM reported a mixed quarter, whereas Snowflake Inc. SNOW exceeded analyst expectations.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Nasdaq Composite	0.26%	19,075.26
S&P 500	0.014%	5,956.06
Dow Jones	-0.43%	43,433.12
Russell 2000	0.19%	2,174.17

Insights From Analysts

“This is still a bull market and this seasonal weakness doesn't have us overly concerned yet,” said Ryan Detrick, the chief market strategist at Carson Group in his note titled ‘That Escalated Quickly’.

He also highlighted a list of reasons substantiating the reasons for stocks to be back at new highs.

Strong earnings, revenue, and profit margins.
Market resilience amidst widespread concerns.
A relatively young bull market with potential for further growth.
A robust labor market with healthy wages.
Anticipated inflation improvement and potential Fed rate cuts.
Strong U.S. productivity driving economic growth.
Broadening market participation beyond just tech stocks.

Similarly, the analysts at BlackRock said, “We still think U.S. equities can outperform in 2025, led by tech, even as Europe's start the year strong.”

However, they said that they would broaden the risk-on view, upgrading Europe stocks.

BlackRock’s note highlighted that the U.S. could still reclaim leadership this year and that is why they were overweight U.S. stocks. The corporate earnings strength and the artificial intelligence theme aided their belief. But the note stated, “We turn more underweight long-term U.S. Treasuries”

As Nvidia was trading 0.82% higher in premarket on Thursday after good earnings on Wednesday, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said that this was “a sign that no one knows how to value amazing earnings”.

The tight trading in Nvidia is more of a sign that no one knows how to value amazing earnings than it is that there is something wrong.
— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) February 27, 2025

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep on Thursday:

Initial jobless claims data till the week ended Feb. 22, January's durable-goods orders data, and GDP's second reading will be announced at 8:30 a.m., ET.

Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid speaks will speak at 9:15 a.m., ET.

Pending home sales data for January will be out by 10:00 a.m., ET.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 11:45 a.m., ET.

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker will speak at 3:15 p.m., ET.

Stocks In Focus:

JM Smucker Co. SJM rose 2.09% in the premarket on Thursday ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of $2.37 per share, with a revenue of $2.23 billion.

Hormel Foods Corp. HRL was up 1.29% as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of 38 cents per share on revenue of $2.94 billion before the opening bell.

Bath & Body Works Inc. BBWI jumped 2.48% as it was expected to release its fourth-quarter financial results before the opening bell. Analysts projected earnings at $2.04 per share on the revenue of $2.78 billion.

Dell Technologies Inc. DELL advanced 1.95% ahead of its earnings, which will be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of $2.52 per share on revenue of $24.57 billion

HP Inc. HPQ was 1.24% higher as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of 74 cents per share on revenue of $13.36 billion after the closing bell.

Nvidia Corp. NVDA gained 0.82% after it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter and full-year results.

Salesforce Inc. CRM declined 4.67% after a mixed quarter and weak outlook for fiscal year 2026.

Snowflake Inc. SNOW climbed 10.85% after a strong quarter beating analyst expectations.

Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 1.01% to hover around $69.31 per barrel.

The gold spot index was down by 0.95% to $2,888.58 per ounce. Its last record high was at $2,956.37. The Dollar Index was up 0.20% at 106.631 level.

Asian markets were mixed on Thursday as Japan's Nikkei 225, China's CSI 300, and Australia's ASX 200 index advanced. Whereas, South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined. European markets were mostly lower in trade.

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