Pre-Bell | S&P, Nasdaq Futures Climb to Record Levels; Applied Digital Soars 22%; Meta Rallies 11%; Microsoft Jumps 8%; Nvidia, AMD Rise over 2%

S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures climbed to record levels on Thursday, after blockbuster earnings from Meta and Microsoft signaled Big Tech's hefty artificial intelligence bets were paying off.

Market Snapshot

At 8:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 87 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 55.75 points, or 0.87%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 287.25 points, or 1.22%.

Pre-Market Movers

Microsoft was up 8.3% after the software giant posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $3.65 a share, better than Wall Street expectations of $3.37, as revenue of $76.4 billion rose 18% from a year earlier and beat analysts' models of $73.6 billion. Cloud revenue rose 27% in the quarter from a year earlier to $46.7 billion. Revenue for the Azure public-cloud business grew by 39% year over year, up from last quarter's revenue growth of 33%.

Meta Platforms jumped 11% after the parent company of Facebook and Instagram posted second-quarter earnings of $7.14 a share, smashing Wall Street forecasts of $5.88. Revenue jumped 22% to $47.5 billion and beat expectations. Daily users at Meta, ad impressions, and price-per-ad all exceeded Wall Street consensus. The company said it expects third-quarter revenue of $47.5 billion to $50.5 billion, higher than consensus of $46.3 billion.

Amazon up more than 3%; AMD, Super Micro, Nvidia up over 2%; Palantir up 1% in premarket trading after Meta and Microsoft earnings.

Applied Digital topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday, buoyed by artificial intelligence-driven demand for its cloud infrastructure. Shares of the Dallas, Texas-based data center operator jumped more than 22% in premarket trading.

Roblox shares soared 20% after raising its forecast for annual bookings on Thursday and crossed the 100-million mark in daily active users on its videogame platform as it rides on the success of viral hits such as "Grow a Garden".

Qualcomm reported fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.77 a share, beating analysts' estimates of $2.71, and said it expects fourth-quarter adjusted profit of $2.75 to $2.95 a share versus consensus of $2.82. Revenue rose 10% to $10.37 billion as sales in the company's equipment and services segment, which includes chips, rose around 11% to $8.89 billion. However, handsets revenue and automotive-sector revenue missed estimates. Shares of the maker of mobile processors and 5G wireless chipsets were down 5%.

CVS Health jumped 8.2% after the after the pharmacy and healthcare giant posted solid second-quarter earnings and boosted its full-year outlook. CVS said it expects full-year adjusted earnings in the range of $6.30 to $6.40 a share, up from $6 to $6.20. The company also boosted its cash flow from operations guidance to at least $7.5 billion from roughly $7 billion.

Chip designer Arm Holdings was down 6.3% after posting fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of 35 cents a share, in line with consensus estimates. Revenue of $1.05 billion also matched expectations. For its current second quarter, Arm expects revenue in a range from $1.01 billion to $1.11 billion, while analysts estimate $1.06 billion.

Ford Motor reported second-quarter operating profit of $2.1 billion, and earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $50.2 billion. Ford topped analysts' estimates on each metric. The company also reinstated full-year financial guidance after pausing guidance in May, saying it expects a 2025 operating profit of between $6.5 billion and $7.5 billion. But Ford said tariff-related costs would cut about $2 billion from its annual earnings, more than earlier estimates. The auto maker declined 0.6%.

Lam Research fell 6.9% after the maker of semiconductor equipment reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit that rose from a year earlier as revenue jumped to $5.17 billion and beat forecasts. Adjusted earnings in the period of $1.33 a share were better than expectations of $1.20. Lam Research said it expects first-quarter earnings of $1.20 a share, plus or minus 10 cents, on revenue of $5.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Analysts forecast earnings of $1 a share and revenue of $4.65 billion.

Robinhood Markets said second-quarter revenue soared 45% from a year earlier to $989 million and beat Wall Street forecasts of $914.6 million. Robinhood said transaction-based revenue increased 65%, driven by sales growth in options, crypto and equities. Second-quarter earnings were 42 cents a share, higher than consensus of 31 cents. Shares of the retail trading platform declined 0.6%.

Carvana's second-quarter earnings and revenue rose from a year earlier on higher car sales. The online used-car company said it sold a record 143,280 retail units in the quarter, up 41% from a year earlier. Shares jumped 16%.

Comcast rose 4.6%. The cable and entertainment company topped Wall Street's second-quarter earnings targets and said it lost fewer broadband subscribers than expected over the second quarter.

Bristol Myers Squibb rose 2.5% after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter adjusted earnings. The company reduced its full-year adjusted earnings expectations to $6.35 a share to $6.65 a share, including a charge of 57 cents from a BioNTech strategic partnership. The company previously expected adjusted earnings of $6.70 to $7 a share.

Align Technology sank 33% after second-quarter earnings missed analysts' estimates and said it plans to reduce its global workforce. The maker of Invisalign said it believes the second quarter "was impacted in part by U.S. tariff turmoil in and outside of the U.S.and less affordable financing options for orthodontic treatment, as well as for capital equipment purchases." The company also said it was seeing "patient hesitation toward elective procedures."

Ambiq Micro, which focuses on ultra-low-power semiconductor technology, surged 60% in its trading debut Wednesday to $38.53 and was rising a further 8.5% in premarket trading.

Earnings reports are expected after the closing bell Thursday from Apple, Amazon.com, MicroStrategy, Coinbase Global, Reddit, and First Solar.

Apple was up slightly ahead of the iPhone maker's fiscal third-quarter earnings report, while Amazon rose 3.1% ahead of the release of second-quarter earnings for the tech giant and online retailer.

Market News

Trump Again Slams Fed Chair Powell After Rates Hold

U.S. President Donald Trump again criticised Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday, a day after the U.S. central bank held interest rates steady in a 9-2 vote.

"Jerome “Too Late” Powell has done it again!!! He is TOO LATE," Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform. "Put another way,“Too Late” is a TOTAL LOSER, and our Country is paying the price!"