US STOCKS-Wall St eyes flat open as Nvidia's strong results draw muted reaction

Updates before markets open

By Shashwat Chauhan and Ragini Mathur

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set for a muted open on Thursday as Nvidia's stellar earnings garnered a tepid reception from investors and downbeat results from software company Salesforce weighed on sentiment.

Nvidia NVDA.O was up 0.8% in premarket trading after the chipmaker posted better-than-expected results for the January quarter and forecast current-quarter revenue above market estimates.

"Investors have been wary of the AI trade and its implications as we look out over the next couple of years and even though Nvidia did deliver strong numbers, it wasn't enough to convince investors to push the stock higher," said Jeff Schulze, head of economic and market strategy at ClearBridge Investments.

Most megacap and growth stocks including Apple AAPL.O and Microsoft MSFT.O were trading in the flat-to-higher band.

At 08:33 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 110 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 7.25 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 17.5 points, or 0.07%.

Salesforce CRM.N shed 1.3% after the cloud software provider forecast fiscal 2027 revenue below expectations, signaling sluggish spending on enterprise business software.

Results from software-related companies could gather extra attention this earnings season given the S&P 500 software and services index .SPLRCIS has dropped nearly 21% so far this year as concerns of AI-related disruptions hit the sector.

While software has been one of the worst hit, financial brokerage, data analytics and legal services, real estate services and trucking are some other sectors that clocked heavy losses amid growing AI disruption fears earlier this year.

February has been a choppy month for U.S. equities, with the main indexes swinging sharply between gains and losses as sentiment towards AI and technology stocks waver, with investors questioning if massive planned AI spending is actually paying off.

The S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC closed at two-week highs on Wednesday, fueled by a rally in heavyweight technology stocks.

On Thursday, data showed that jobless claims for the week ended February 21 stood at 212,000, compared with estimates of 215,000, according to economists polled by Reuters.

Among other stocks, Trade Desk TTD.O tumbled 15.3% after the advertising technology firm forecast first-quarter revenue below estimates amid mounting pressure from larger rivals.

J.M. Smucker SJM.N jumped 7.1% after the Uncrustables maker beat fourth-quarter profit and sales estimates. The company also said it had appointed two new directors to its board, after reaching a "constructive engagement" with investor Elliott Investment Management.

C3.ai I.N fell 24.5% after the software provider forecast current-quarter sales below estimates and said it was cutting 26% of its global workforce.

Celsius Holding CELH.O jumped 12.4% after the energy drink maker reported fourth-quarter revenue above estimates.

Investors also monitored the latest round of U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute and averting new U.S. strikes on Iran following a large-scale military buildup.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

((Shashwat.Chauhan@thomsonreuters.com;))