U.S. stock index futures moved little in evening deals on Sunday, with caution ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting dissuading big trades, while AI darling Nvidia Corp’s annual developer conference also came into focus.
Wall Street indexes were nursing a fall from record highs over the past two weeks, as a rally in heavyweight technology stocks which was fueled by hype over artificial intelligence, now appeared to be taking a breather. A series of hotter-than-expected inflation readings also fueled concerns over the Fed potentially signalling higher-for-longer interest rates.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.05% to 5,185.50 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.1% to 18,071.0 points by 19:04 ET (23:04 GMT). Dow Jones Futures fell 0.1% to 39,126.0 points.
Fed in focus after hot inflation readings
Market focus was now squarely on the conclusion of a two-day Fed meeting on Wednesday. While the central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates steady, any signals on its plans for cutting rates will be closely watched.
Hotter-than-expected consumer and producer inflation readings last week had ramped up fears that the central bank could offer more hawkish signals during this week’s meeting.
Fed officials have also repeatedly stated that any potential rate cuts will be largely dictated by the path of inflation, which has so far remained sticky and above the Fed’s 2% annual target.
Concerns over the Fed had weighed on Wall Street indexes last week, albeit marginally.
The S&P 500 fell 0.7% to 5,117.09 points on Friday, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 1% to 15,973.17 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.5% at 38,714.77 points.
While the S&P 500 and the Dow logged minimal weekly losses, the Nasdaq slid 0.7% on heavy profit-taking in technology stocks.
Nvidia conference awaited for more AI cues
But before the Fed meeting, the focus this week will be on NVIDIA Corporation’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) GTC conference in San Jose, California. The event is Nvidia’s first annual developer conference to be held in person after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The firm, which has been at the heart of an AI-driven market rally over the past year, is widely expected to unveil its new flagship chips catered specifically for AI development. CEO Jensen Huang will deliver the keynote address later on Monday and is expected to showcase Nvidia’s next-generation AI chip, which analysts say will be called the B100.
Nvidia saw a meteoric rise in valuation through 2023 and so far in 2024, becoming Wall Street’s third most valuable company behind Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) on its AI efforts.
While this rally somewhat cooled over the past week, the GTC conference could be pivotal in kicking off fresh gains for Nvidia, as well as the broader technology sector.
