US stocks look set for a strong rebound on Thursday, with technology shares leading the charge after upbeat results from Micron reignited enthusiasm for the artificial intelligence trade following three consecutive days of losses for the Nasdaq.
Nasdaq futures jumped 2.2%, pointing to a recovery after the technology-heavy index fell 0.4% on Wednesday, taking its decline for the week to more than 1,000 points, or 3.7%.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.8%, with Dow Jones futures 0.3% higher, having respectively dropped 0.1% to 7,358.2 and 0.35% to 51,848.9 the day before.
The mood shifted after Micron’s fiscal third quarter results comfortably beat Wall Street expectations and the memory chipmaker issued stronger-than-expected guidance for the current quarter.
Revenue more than doubled from a year earlier, while chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra said the results reflected “the strategic value of memory in the AI era” as demand continued to accelerate.
The shares have leapt 17.5% in pre-market trading.
Market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation said the results “restored confidence across a sector which has taken a recent hit”, noting that the company is the only US manufacturer of high-bandwidth memory chips compatible with Nvidia’s processors.
Qualcomm also boosted sentiment after buying a chip startup Modular for nearly $4 billion and issuing an upbeat forecast for its data centre business, helping lift semiconductor stocks including AMD, Marvell Technology, TSMC and Intel.
The optimism spread into Asian and European markets. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 4.6%, South Korea’s Kospi jumped 5.4% and the Euro Stoxx 600 technology index gained 0.7%.
Investors will also be watching US inflation data later, with the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index expected to show annual inflation of 3.4%. Morrison said the release would be closely watched as markets assess the Federal Reserve’s increasingly hawkish stance.
Attention will also remain on the Japanese yen after the dollar climbed to within a few cents of ¥162, its strongest level against the currency since July 2024.
Traders were “still playing a game of chicken” with Japanese policymakers, Morrison said, after previous currency interventions failed to halt the yen’s decline, although he cautioned the dollar could see a short-term pullback after its recent rally.
Oil prices continued to fall, with WTI crude sliding another 0.8% to $69.77, the lowest since the start of March.
