Feb 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday as AI bellwether Nvidia's upbeat forecast soothed concerns of cooling demand in the industry, while investors gauged the implications of the Trump administration's latest threats on global trade.
Nvidia (NVDA.O), advanced 2.2% in premarket trading, far tamer than some of the stock's previous post-results surges, as the company's revenue growth slowed further and it forecast first-quarter gross margin slightly below expectations.
"It's telling that Nvidia's latest set of results beat earnings expectations for the ninth quarter in a row and failed to win over the market," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
Fellow chip stocks Broadcom (AVGO.O), added 2.3% and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), gained 1.6%.
Megacaps Microsoft (MSFT.O), and Meta (META.O), , among Nvidia's largest customers, rose 0.4% and 1.7%, respectively, bouncing from declines earlier in the month.
The launch of low-cost AI models from China's DeepSeek in January had cooled a two-year, tech-driven bull rally on Wall Street, with Nvidia losing half a trillion dollars in market value in a single day. More recently, an analyst report suggesting Microsoft was scrapping some data center leases also raised concerns of overcapacity.
"The prospect of being able to run AI services more cheaply, together with growing uncertainties around the economic outlook, means companies will be paying more attention to tech-related spending," Coatsworth said.
At 07:12 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 140 points, or 0.32%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 39.25 points, or 0.66%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 170.5 points, or 0.8%.
All three major U.S. indexes were on track for monthly declines, as the Trump administration's global trade policies and signs of stalling economic growth have also fueled aversion to riskier assets.
In his latest threats on trade partners, U.S. President Donald Trump floated a 25% "reciprocal" tariff on European cars and other goods.
But he sowed confusion on the timeline of Mexican and Canadian duties after saying they could take effect on April 2, while a White House official said the previous March 4 deadline remained in effect.
On the data front, second estimates for quarterly gross domestic product and a report on weekly jobless claims are due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Monthly Personal Consumption Expenditure data, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, is due on Friday and likely to determine the outlook for monetary policy easing this year.
According to data compiled by LSEG, traders expect the central bank to lower borrowing costs by at least 50 basis points by December.
Comments from policymakers including Thomas Barkin, Jeffrey Schmid, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr and Governor Michelle Bowman are expected to reiterate the central bank's cautious stance on easing interest rates further.
Dow component Salesforce (CRM.N), forecast fiscal 2026 revenue below expectations, sending shares of the business software provider down 3.1%.
Snowflake (SNOW.N), rose 12.3% after the data analytics provider forecast fiscal 2026 product revenue above estimates.
Moderna (MRNA.O), dropped 4.9% after a report said U.S. health officials were reevaluating a $590 million contract that was awarded to the drugmaker for the development of its bird flu vaccine.
Reporting by Sukriti Gupta and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath
