US STOCKS-Wall Street set to inch up as Nvidia earnings awaited; Target plunges

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By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

Nov 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures indicated a slightly higher open on Wednesday as investors were cautiously optimistic ahead of AI giant Nvidia's quarterly results, while retailer Target's shares tumbled after a downbeat holiday-quarter forecast.

Nvidia NVDA.O is scheduled to report results after the bell and its shares were up 0.4% in premarket trading, after jumping nearly 5% in Tuesday's session.

Meanwhile, Target TGT.N plunged 16.2% after the retailer forecast holiday-quarter comparable sales and profit below Wall Street expectations after missing third-quarter estimates.

But the spotlight is on Nvidia, which has nearly tripled in value this year, accounting for about 20% of the S&P 500's .SPX returns over the past year, according to BofA Global Research.

However, given the lofty earnings expectations, the company could struggle to impress investors. Options traders are primed for a nearly $300-billion swing in the company's market value after the results.

"The strong AI demand, particularly for Nvidia’s Blackwell chips, and the robust results from TSM (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co), that builds its chips, hint (Nvidia) results will probably meet and beat expectations," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

"But it's hard to say that good results will lead to a good market reaction."

Retailers such as Dollar Tree DLTR.N and Dollar General DG.N fell 2.2% and 2.5%, respectively, while Walmart WMT.N edged 0.4% lower after posting strong results in the previous session.

Still, investors appeared optimistic about Nvidia's results and the broader equity outlook.

"We're starting to gain traction again," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments.

"There's some optimism Nvidia is going to report good numbers... you had earnings yesterday from Walmart, a good proxy of how the low-end consumer is doing, and if the low-end consumer is doing well, investors are happy that the economy's not going to crumble."

At 8:35 a.m., Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 111 points, or 0.26%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 9.5 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 39.75 points, or 0.19%.

Some soothing of geopolitical worries also buoyed stock futures on the day after Reuters reported Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Donald Trump.

Cryptocurrency stocks ticked higher as bitcoin briefly jumped above $94,000, with MicroStrategy MSTR.O and MARA Holdings MARA.O up 7.2% and 4.4%, respectively.

Comments from Federal Reserve officials including Lisa Cook, Michelle Bowman and Susan Collins are expected through the day, while Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee.

Traders have increased bets on the central bank leaving interest rates unchanged at its December meeting, in the wake of strong economic data and signs of persistent inflation. They see a 41.1% chance of a pause next month, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

Comcast CMCSA.O gained 2.5% after the company said it plans to spin off some NBCUniversal cable TV networks, as the rise of streaming prompts the media company to relinquish some of its most prized assets.

(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

((LisaPauline.Mattackal@thomsonreuters.com;))