U.S. equity futures were relatively stable on Thursday evening, following a remarkable performance by the S&P 500, which reached a new record high. This surge in the stock market was largely driven by renewed optimism surrounding the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 62 points, equivalent to 0.1%. Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures saw a minimal pullback of 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 futures declined by 0.09%. Investors were busy reviewing the latest corporate earnings released during extended trading hours.
In the after-hours trading session, shares of Ulta Beauty rose approximately 3% following a positive outlook for the full year. Similarly, Autodesk stock surged more than 10% thanks to better-than-expected guidance. Conversely, shares of Dell Technologies experienced a decline of 5% as the company issued a soft outlook for the current quarter. This mixed performance comes on the heels of a successful trading session where the S&P 500 closed up by 0.3% at 6,501.86, marking its first close above the significant 6,500 mark.
Earlier in the day, the broad-based index even achieved an all-time intraday high. The Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up by approximately 0.2%. Notably, the Dow concluded at a record high of 45,636.90. The robust earnings report from Nvidia played a pivotal role in bolstering investor confidence in the AI trade. Although Nvidia's earnings report raised some concerns regarding its data center business and provided only slightly better-than-expected revenue guidance for the upcoming quarter, it ultimately aided in lifting other chip stocks that had initially experienced a downturn. Nvidia's stock wrapped up the day down by less than 1%.
Tom Lee, co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, shared insights during CNBC's Power Lunch on Thursday, stating, "I think if someone is trying to ring the bell at the top for AI, they're underestimating how quickly penetration grows. We're probably in the first quarter or first third of that cycle for AI." As the month draws to a close, investors are now looking forward to new inflation data that will come to light, particularly the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones anticipate that the PCE reading for July will reflect a monthly increase of 0.2% and a yearly increase of 2.6%.
With all three major indexes either at or near record highs, the gains for this month have been substantial. The 30-stock Dow has shown a slight increase of 0.01% week-to-date, but it has achieved a notable 3.4% advance throughout August. The S&P 500 has recorded a week-to-date increase of 0.5%, contributing to a 2.6% rise so far this month. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also saw an increase of about 1% this week, which has helped push its August gain to 2.8%.
