Pre-Bell｜Wall St Futures Slip Ahead Of Key Inflation Data; Ambarella Up 18%; Affirm Up 15%; Autodesk Up 10%

U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as caution dominated the mood ahead of a highly anticipated inflation report that could influence the Federal Reserve's September interest-rate decision.

Market Snapshot

At 07:47 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 141 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 21.5 points, or 0.33%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 129.75 points, or 0.55%.

Pre-Market Movers

Marvell Technology tumbled 15% after the chip designer swung to a profit in the second quarter but adjusted earnings of 67 cents a share on revenue of $2.01 billion only matched Wall Street estimates. Marvell said revenue in the period rose 58% in part on "strong AI demand" for its custom silicon and electro-optics products. Marvell expects third-quarter adjusted earnings of 74 cents a share, plus or minus 5 cents, and revenue of $2.06 billion, plus or minus 5%. Analysts had been calling for earnings of 72 cents a share on revenue of $2.11 billion.

Dell Technologies Inc. was down 5% after the maker of computers and artificial-intelligence servers reported better-than-expected second-quarter adjusted earnings but issued a third-quarter outlook that missed analysts' estimates. Dell said it anticipates third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.45 a share at the midpoint, compared with expectations of $2.55. The company expects fiscal 2026 AI server shipments of $20 billion, higher than prior guidance of $15 billion. Dell said demand for its AI solutions "continues to be exceptional."

Nvidia fell 1.1% after the AI chip maker declined 0.8% Thursday following its second-quarter earnings report. A miss on data-center revenue in the quarter, which rose 56% to $41.1 billion, disappointed investors.

U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba rose 3.1% after the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate posted fiscal first-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations but revenue that missed forecasts amid a fierce price war in China. Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported that Alibaba, China's biggest cloud-computing company, has developed a new and more versatile artificial-intelligence chip.

Software company Autodesk rallied 9.8% after posting second-quarter adjusted earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts and issuing outlooks for both the third quarter and fiscal year that topped estimates.

Affirm Holdings jumped 15% in premarket trading. The fintech swung to a fiscal fourth-quarter profit and revenue rose 33% to $876 million, handily topping analysts' estimates of $837 million. Gross merchandise volume, a metric that represents the total dollar amount of all transactions on the platform, net of refunds, jumped 43% to $10.4 billion.

Second-quarter adjusted earnings at ulta beauty easily topped Wall Street expectations and the cosmetics retailer raised guidance for the fiscal year, sending shares up 3.7% in premarket trading.

Elastic N.V. , the data-analytics company, soared 16% after the enterprise data software company posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of 60 cents a share on sales of $415 million, up 20% from a year earlier. Elastic also boosted sales guidance for its second quarter and fiscal year.

Gap fell 2.3% after the retailer reported second-quarter earnings that beat analysts' earnings expectations but warned that tariffs would affect operating margins. Gap said it expects fiscal-year operating margins to range from 6.7% to 7%, including an estimated 100 basis point to 110 basis point net tariff impact. Operating margins a year earlier were 7.4%.

SentinelOne, the cybersecurity company, rose 7% after reporting a second-quarter revenue jump of 22% and annualized recurring revenue surpassed $1 billion.

Ambarella jumped 18%. The chip-design company raised fiscal-year revenue guidance following a second-quarter revenue surge of 49.9% to $95.5 million, which topped analysts' expectations of $90 million.

Market News

Eric Trump says Trump family 'loves' Bitcoin community, predicts $1 million valuation

Eric Trump says the Trump family "loves" and "believes in" the Bitcoin community, which supported his father Donald Trump before he became the U.S. President for the second time.

Trump, speaking at the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong, said he believed Bitcoin would hit a $1 million valuation.

Tesla FSD turns off more U.S. consumers than it attracts, survey finds

Elon Musk’s fervent promotion of Tesla’s self-driving technology isn’t doing much to win over prospective buyers.

According to a new survey, more U.S. consumers say that Tesla’s FSD, or Full Self-Driving (Supervised) systems, would push them away from the brand rather than drawing them to it.

The Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report for August, published by political consulting firm Slingshot Strategies, polled 8,000 Americans. Only 14% of those surveyed said FSD would make them more likely to buy a Tesla, while 35% said the technology would make them less likely to purchase one.

The remaining 51% said the availability of FSD would make no difference to them in terms of their car buying decisions. Nearly half of consumers surveyed by Slingshot said they think FSD technology should be illegal.