US pre-open: Futures trade higher following Nvidia earnings beat

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Thursday as traders digested blockbuster earnings from chipmaker Nvidia and thumbed over minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee's most recent policy meeting.

As of 1225 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.43%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 1.37% and 2.17% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 48.44 points higher on Wednesday, bouncing back from two straight losing sessions.

In focus early on Thursday, Nvidia shares traded higher in pre-market after revealing total revenues had surged by a whopping 265% year-on-year, driven by its artificial intelligence business. Nvidia, now the fifth-largest company in the US by market capitalisation, also told investors that more stellar revenue growth was in store for this quarter, despite trading against elevated expectations.

AJ Bell's Russ Mould said: "Nvidia's better-than-expected results last night could help to keep investor sentiment high and that positivity has spread to other parts of the market. Futures prices point to a strong session on Wall Street when its markets open later today."

On the macro front, weekly jobless claims data will be published at 1330 GMT, as will the Chicago Federal Reserve's January national activity index, while a preliminary reading of S&P Global's manufacturing and services PMIs will follow at 1445 GMT, and existing home sales data for last month and a speech from Federal Reserve governor Philip Jefferson will follow at 1500 GMT.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Thursday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com