U.S. stock futures were flat on Wednesday as investors awaited the release of chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings report, which is seen as crucial to maintaining confidence in the broader market.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average () were little changed after the blue-chip benchmark posted a record close for the second consecutive day. Futures on the S&P 500 () and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 () also traded largely unchanged.
Nvidia’s share prices are caught in cautious trading ahead of the release of its second-quarter results after the market close on Wednesday. The $3.2 trillion AI giant’s report will serve as a litmus test for AI spending and the technology sector and could ultimately move the entire market.
Traders expect the chipmaker’s shares to fluctuate by almost 10 percent in either direction, depending on whether hopes for another successful quarter are fulfilled. Nvidia’s shares were little changed in premarket trading on Wednesday after a bumpy start to the week.
In the technology sector, Apple (AAPL) took the unusual step of cutting 100 jobs in its digital services group, a day after the iPhone maker announced the replacement of its longtime CFO.
While Nvidia is the star of the results list, eyes are on Salesforce’s (CRM) results to find out if software companies are starting to see a return on their AI investments. Meanwhile, CrowdStrike’s (CRWD) report should shed light on the cost of the fallout from July’s global Windows outage.
