(Reuters) – A rebound in chip stocks lifted Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures on Thursday as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) upbeat forecast and results looked set to boost the sector following a sharp selloff in the previous session.
TSMC’s U.S.-listed shares jumped 3.6% in premarket trading after the Taiwanese company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, posted second-quarter profit above expectations and forecast strong third-quarter revenue.
Shares of Apple and Nvidia, both TSMC customers, jumped 0.9% and 3.3%, respectively. Other chipmakers such as Advanced Micro Devices, Intel and Micron Technology rose between 1.9% and 2.5%.
Barring Intel, chip stocks lost more than $500 billion in market value in Wednesday’s session following a report that the U.S. was mulling tighter curbs on exports of advanced semiconductor technology to China and comments on Taiwan from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index had its worst day in four years on Wednesday. The pressure on chip stocks also weighed on megacap shares.
The so-called “Magnificent 7” group of stocks rose in premarket trading on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Tesla and Amazon.com Futures tracking the small-cap Russell 2000 index edged 0.1% lower. The index closed down 1% in the previous session, snapping a five-day winning streak. Dow futures also edged lower after the index notched its third consecutive closing high on Wednesday. The VIX index, Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, eased slightly but was still at a six-week high. The quarterly earnings season that is well underway will be a significant test whether expensively valued megacaps can keep investors satisfied with strong results. Netflix is scheduled to report results after the bell on Thursday. The streaming giant’s shares were slightly lower. Abbot Laboratories, Domino’s Pizza and D.R. Horton are among the companies scheduled to report earnings before the bell. On the economic data front, weekly jobless claims data as well as the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s business index are on the radar. Comments from Fed officials Lorie Logan, Mary Daly and Michelle Bowman are also expected later in the day. Investors are still pricing in a more than 91% chance of a 25-basis point interest rate cut from the Fed by its September meeting, according to CME’s FedWatch. At 5:02 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 41 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 15.75 points, or 0.28%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 115.25 points, or 0.58%. Beyond Meat slumped 13.2% following a report the plant-based meatmaker has engaged with bondholders to begin discussions about restructuring its balance sheet.
(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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