Pre-Bell | US Stock Futures Rise; Nvidia Jumps 2%; Palantir Rises 3%; AGQ up 7%; RXRX Falls 12%; APLD Sinks 8%; SanDisk down 4%

01 Stock Market

As of Feb 18, U.S. stock index futures performed as follows: Dow futures rose 0.08%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.26%, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.41%. The technology-heavy complex outpaced blue chips, suggesting investors are leaning toward growth and AI-related names before the bell. The futures curve reflected a moderate risk-on tone, with strength concentrated in semiconductors and large-cap platforms, while investors assessed corporate catalysts and deal headlines.

Notable Stock Movers: Amazon (AMZN) up 1.38% at $203.93; Microsoft (MSFT) up 0.39% at $398.41; Apple (AAPL) up 0.12% at $264.19; Tesla (TSLA) up 0.42% at $412.35; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) fell 1.98% at $199.06; Palantir (PLTR) up 2.88% at $136.85; Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) up 1.00% at $367.83; PDD Holdings (PDD) up 1.62% at $103.48; SanDisk (SNDK) fell 3.52% at $569.80.

Leveraged and commodity-linked flows were active: Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bull 3x (SOXL) up 3.25% at $66.44; ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) up 1.10% at $48.88; ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ (SQQQ) fell 1.10% at $72.16. Precious metals proxies firmed pre-bell: ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ) up 6.10% at $127.38; iShares Silver Trust (SLV) up 3.04% at $68.39. Overall, large-cap tech leadership and AI beneficiaries guided early moves as traders positioned for headline risk and earnings updates.

NVIDIA rose 2% ahead of the opening bell. Facebook owner Meta Platforms is expanding its business with the chip designer in a deal likely to be worth tens of billions of dollars. Meta will use millions of Nvidia’s Blackwell and Rubin graphics processing units, a reminder that Nvidia is still the leading player in artificial-intelligence processors. Meta shares ticked up 0.2% in premarket trading, having taken a batteringin recent weeks due to concerns about the so-called hyperscaler’s AI spending plans.

Palo Alto Networks was the S&P 500’s biggest decliner, tumbling 7% after the cybersecurity company reported strong fiscal second-quarter earnings but forecast that its profitability would suffer in the second half of the fiscal year, likely on high memory prices and the costs involved in integrating two acquisitions.

New York Times climbed 3%. Berkshire Hathaway initiated a new holding by buying 5 million shares of the newspaper publishing company in the fourth quarter, according to a 13-F filing. The filing, which covered Warren Buffett’s last quarter as CEO, also showed that Berkshire continued to trim its stakes in Bank of America and Apple and sold most of its holdings in Amazon.com over the quarter. Bank of America rose 0.3%, Apple added 0.5%, and Amazon gained 1.4% on Wednesday.

SanDisk Corp. fell 3% after former parent Western Digital said it would sell shares in the flash-memory supplier. Sandisk announced a $3.09 billion secondary offering of its shares. Before the offering closes, Western Digital is expected to exchange the shares for some debt held by affiliates of JPMorgan and Bank of America.

Cadence Design was the S&P 500’s top performer, rising 7% after the chip-design software maker beat analysts’ targets for fourth-quarter profit and revenue. At the mid-point, Cadence’s profit and revenue guidance for the current fiscal year also topped Wall Street’s expectations.

Palantir Technologies Inc. rose 3% after analysts at Mizuho upgraded shares of the data analytics company to Outperform from Neutral and left the price target unchanged at $195.Palantir”is in a category of one, delivering total revenue growth, acceleration, and margin expansion at scale that is unlike anything else in software,” the analysts said in a research note. Palantir shares have declined 25% this year.

Hecla Mining jumped 4% after the silver miner reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue above analysts’ estimates and said it would double its exploration and pre-development spending to $55 million in 2026. The results cover a period when silver prices surged as investors piled into precious metals in the so-called debasement trade.

Steel Dynamics rose 1% after the steelmaker and Australian conglomerate SGH submitted an enhanced offer for BlueScope Steel. The new bid values BlueScope at about $11 billion, or 34 Australian dollars a share before payment of an interim and special dividend. BlueScope’s Sydney-listed shares closed 2.6% higher at A$28.74 on Wednesday.

02 Other Markets

• 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose 0.33%, to 4.07%.

• U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.0597% to 97.19.

• WTI crude oil futures rose 2.83% to 64.06 USD/barrel; COMEX gold futures rose 0.98% to 4944.20 USD/ounce.

03 Key News

Nvidia and Meta Expand GPU Team up with Millions of Additional AI Chips

Nvidia (NVDA) and Meta (META) announced an expanded multiyear, multi-generational partnership that will see Nvidia provide the social media giant with millions of its Blackwell and Rubin GPUs [graphics processing units], as well as its CPUs [central processing units] and networking offerings.

The plan calls for Meta to use the products within its data centers for both training and running AI models.

Apple Decouples From Nasdaq as AI ‘Whack-a-Mole’ Grips Market

It’s been nearly 20 years since Apple Inc. was this untethered from its tech peers, giving investors an appealing alternative to the artificial intelligence-fueled volatility that has gripped most other corners of the stock market in recent weeks.

Apple’s 40-day correlation to the Nasdaq 100 Index tumbled to 0.21 last week, the lowest since 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its correlation with the benchmark has been on the decline since May, when it reached 0.92, as Apple’s decision to mostly sit out the AI arms race has turned it into an outlier compared with many of its rivals. A correlation of 1 means the two securities are moving in perfect unison, while a reading of -1 signals they are moving opposite each other.

Microsoft Says It Is on Pace to Invest $50 Billion in 'Global South' AI Push

Microsoft on Wednesday said it ‌is on pace to ‌invest $50 billion by the end ​of the decade to help expand AI to countries across the 'Global South'.

The ‌announcement was ⁠made at the AI summit in New ⁠Delhi, where top executives from global AI ​giants meet ​several ​world leaders this ‌week.

Sources: Reuters, Dow Jones, Tiger Newspress, public market data

Disclaimer: For informational purposes only; not investment advice.