Pre-Bell | Nasdaq Futures Rise; Palladyne AI up 13%; Palantir Soars 10%; DXYZ Surges 8%; Intel, SanDisk up 4%; AMD Jumps 2%; PayPal Tumbles 16%

01 Stock Market

As of Feb, U.S. stock index futures performed as follows: Dow futures were steady, up 0.04%, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.26% and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.53%. The modestly constructive tone reflects support from AI-driven earnings beats and guidance updates alongside strength in precious metals, even as some large-cap consumer and payments names lagged. The setup suggests a balanced risk tone before the opening bell, with growth leadership leaning toward semiconductors and select software tied to enterprise AI spending.

Notable stock movers: AI beneficiaries and precious-metals proxies led early action. PLTR up 11.16% at $164.25. AGQ up 16.26% at $172.53; SLV up 8.48% at $78.58; UGL up 10.96% at $69.53; GDXU up 17.27% at $328.00; inverse silver ZSL fell 18.75% at $2.08. Earnings and guidance momentum lifted chips and suppliers: INTC, SNDK up 3.54%; AMD up 2.18% at $251.64; SOXL up 4.00% at $67.81. In megacaps, NVDA up 0.77% at $187.04; MSFT up 0.34% at $424.80; GOOG up 1.19% at $348.99; AAPL fell 0.71% at $268.08. TSLA rose 1.14% at $426.60 on product news. TER up 23%.

Investor focus before the bell centers on enterprise AI demand, metals volatility, and selective large-cap moves. AI-linked software strength in PLTR follows robust results, while semi beta remains bid with AMD, INTC, and SOXL higher. Precious-metals vehicles (AGQ, SLV, UGL, GDXU) outperformed as gold and silver extended gains. Among megacaps, NVDA and GOOG edged up, AAPL softened, and TSLA gained after a new Model Y variant listing. The dispersion highlights rotation into AI infrastructure/software and commodity proxies, while payments lagged via PYPL.

02 Other Markets

• 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose 0.11%, to 4.28%.

• U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.0236% to 97.58.

• WTI crude oil futures rose 0.39% to 62.38 USD/barrel; COMEX gold futures rose 6.07% to 4,934.90 USD/ounce.

03 Key News

PayPal Sees 2026 Profit Below Estimates, Names Enrique Lores as CEO

PayPal issued a lackluster profit forecast for 2026 and reported fourth-quarter earnings below Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, pressured by weaker U.S. retail spending and slower growth in its branded checkout segment.

The company's shares fell 16% in premarket trading after the results. It also named HP's Enrique Lores as president and CEO, effective March 1.

US Space Stocks Rise After Musk's SpaceX Merges with XAI at $1.25 Trillion Valuation

U.S. space stocks rose on Tuesday after Elon Musk announced the merger of SpaceX and xAI in a deal that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion, a major push to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure outside earth.

Musk said the most cost-effective way to generate AI compute will be in space within two to three years as Big Tech companies pursue artificial general intelligence, a theoretical milestone where machines could surpass human thinking.

Shares of Rocket Lab USA, Inc. and Planet Labs Pbc rose around 5% and 4% in premarket trading, while Destiny Tech100 Inc, AST SpaceMobile, Inc. and Globalstar added 8%, 3% and 1%, respectively.

Palladyne AI Wins $1 Million Defense Contract for Missile Subsystem

PALLADYNE AI CORP announced it secured a contract with a major U.S. defense prime contractor to deliver a propulsion subsystem for an existing U.S. missile system program.

U.S.-listed shares of the company rose 13% in premarket trading.

The Salt Lake City-based defense technology company expects the contract to generate nearly $1 million in revenue, which will be recognized in 2026. Palladyne AI plans to complete deliverables by the end of the third quarter of 2026.

Sources: Reuters, Dow Jones, Tiger Newspress, public market data
Disclaimer: For informational purposes only; not investment advice.