US stock futures traded mostly higher Thursday with investors trying to make sense of a slew of recent artificial-intelligence developments.
These stocks were poised to make moves:
Alphabet declined 2.6% ahead of the opening bell. The parent of search giant Google beat analysts' estimates for fourth-quarter earnings and revenue but forecast capital expenditures for 2026 of $175 billion to $185 billion, well above Wall Street expectations. Alphabet has been pouring money into AI cloud computing as it tries to satisfy sky-high demand. Google Cloud posted revenue of $17.7 billion in the fourth quarter, up 48% from a year earlier and better than estimates.
Advanced Micro Devices added 2%, Broadcom jumped 5.5%, and Nvidia climbed 2.2% in premarket trading. All three stand to benefit from Google's AI spending plans, which could drive up how much money they make from selling advanced chips. The gains for AMD came after shares plummeted 17% on Wednesday, their worst single-session performance in more than eight years.
Qualcomm dropped 11%. It was the S&P 500's biggest decliner in premarket trading Thursday. The selloff came after the chip company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street forecasts but said it anticipates second-quarter revenue of $10.2 billion to $11 billion, below analysts' consensus of $11.11 billion. Qualcomm said its second-quarter forecast includes the impact of a shortage of memory supply and "related pricing on demand from several handset customers."
Align Technology surged 11%, making it the S&P 500's best performer in premarket trading. The Invisalign maker beat fourth-quarter earnings and revenue estimates and posted an adjusted gross margin of 72% for the period, well above its previous guidance.
Arm Holdings tumbled 6.5% even though the British semiconductor company reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings for its fiscal third quarter. Arm expects slower revenue growth over the current quarter, which Chief Financial Officer Jason Child said was down to seasonality.
Ciena climbed 2.2%. The software and networking company will replace Dayforce in the S&P 500, S&P Dow Jones Indices said. Thoma Bravo acquired Dayforce in a deal that closed Wednesday.
Snap gained 7.6% after the Snapchat owner posted a surprise profit in the fourth quarter as revenue rose 10% to $1.72 billion. That helped investors to look past weaker-than-expected revenue guidance for the current quarter.
Amazon.com ticked up 0.2%. The online retailer is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell. Wall Street is expecting fourth-quarter earnings of $1.97 a share on sales of $211.4 billion, up from $1.86 a share on sales of $187.7 billion a year ago. Investors will be keeping a close eye on any commentary the e-commerce giant gives about its Amazon Web Services cloud business, with reveneu for the division expected to rise 22% to $35 billion.
Strategy, ConocoPhillips, Bristol Myers Squibb, Intercontinental Exchange, Cummins, Barrick Mining, Cigna, Carrier Global, Reddit, and Roblox are also expected to post earnings Thursday.
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