U.S. stock futures rise following much-anticipated fourth-quarter earnings from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). The semiconductor titan's returns and guidance suggested that the emergence of China's DeepSeek earlier this year has done little to stem a boom of enthusiasm around the applications of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to suggest that a delayed deadline for tariffs on Canada and Mexico could be postponed once again.
1. Futures point higher
U.S. stock futures advanced on Thursday as traders assessed quarterly earnings from artificial intelligence-darling Nvidia and fresh tariff remarks from President Trump.
By 03:42 ET (08:42 GMT), the Dow futures contract had risen by 112 points or 0.3%, S&P 500 futures had gained 26 points or 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had climbed by 101 points or 0.5%.
Stocks in Asia were providing a broadly weaker handover, with tech shares in particular receiving limited direction from Nvidia's results (more below). In Europe, the regional STOXX 600 dipped after Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs on the European Union.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar strengthened and Treasury yields -- which typically move inversely to prices -- edged up as markets gauged the latest developments around Trump's tariff plans and the outlook for the wider economy (more below). Bitcoin also fell.
2. Nvidia earnings
Shares in Nvidia were lower in extended hours trading on Thursday, as a higher-than-anticipated current-quarter sales projection was counterbalanced by a narrowing in profit margins. A figurehead of the AI boom and market bellwether, Nvidia said it now expects to post revenue of roughly $43 billion in the first quarter, compared with analyst expectations of around $42 billion. Fourth-quarter revenue rose by 78% versus a year ago to $39.3 billion and net income increased by 80% to $22 billion, both topping estimates, thanks largely to solid sales of its new Blackwell AI chips.
But the semiconductor giant noted that its income margins had dropped due in part to an uptick in costs around its new data center gear and larger pay packages for its growing workforce.
Crucially, the figures suggested that a recent spike in demand for high-powered and expensive computing technology remains strong even after the emergence of a low-cost AI model from Chinese start-up DeepSeek earlier this year. CEO Jensen Huang called DeepSeek, which raised questions around the necessity of heavy AI spending and sparked a market sell-off in January that wiped $593 billion off Nvidia's market value in a single day, "an excellent innovation."
"Bottom Line: on an absolute basis, the Nvidia report is solid/fine, although not perfect," analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note to clients.
3. Dell results ahead
Dell (NYSE:DELL) is due to highlight the earnings slate on Thursday, with investors keen to receive an update to the firm's outlook for PC and IT spending by enterprise customers.
Although Dell has benefited from a surge in expenditures on its AI-optimized servers designed to handle big artificial intelligence workloads, tepid demand for the company's traditional PCs and competition from rival server manufacturers have clouded its short-term prospects.
In November, executives flagged that enterprise clients were especially mindful of their PC and IT investments. Dell's consumer unit has also performed weaker than expected.
Writing in a note to clients, analysts at BofA added that Dell's management has also warned that AI server revenues would be down compared to the prior quarter due to shipment challenges related to Nvidia's Blackwell processors. However, the analysts predicted that Dell, like other server vendors, will guide for stronger revenues later this year "once Blackwell starts to ship in higher volumes."
4. Trump comments on Canada, Mexico tariff deadline
President Trump appeared to indicate on Wednesday that postponed 25% import tariffs on Canada and Mexico would be delayed by roughly another month, saying the levies would come into effect on April 2.
"I have to tell you that, you know, on April 2, I was going to do it on April 1," Trump said. "But I'm a little bit superstitious, I made it April 2, the tariffs go on. Not all of them but a lot of them."
However, a White House official later said that Trump's prior deadline of March 4 was still in effect "as of this moment," with a review of actions taken by Canada and Mexico to boost border security pending.
The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso both firmed against the dollar following Trump's comments.
Meanwhile, Trump floated that he could soon enact a 25% "reciprocal" tariff on cars and other goods coming from the European Union. A spokesperson for the European Commission said the EU will respond "firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade," Reuters reported.
5. Gold eases
Gold prices slipped on Thursday as the yellow metal was weighed down by a stronger U.S. dollar and an uptick in Treasury yields.
Traders were also looking ahead to a crucial reading of U.S. inflation later in the week that is closely monitored by Federal Reserve policymakers.
Elsewhere, oil prices climbed, rebounding from two straight negative sessions, after Trump announced a reversal of a license given to Chevron (NYSE:CVX) to operate in Venezuela. The move prompted renewed concerns over tightening supplies.
