This post was originally published on this site
At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.5% higher, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.7% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.5%.
Nvidia reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings late Wednesday, and also presented consensus-beating guidance for the third quarter as the world’s most valuable chipmaker benefited from a boom in artificial intelligence development.
The stock market darling also announced a bumper $25 billion buyback program, prompting sharp gains premarket and likely boosting the tech sector in both the Asian and European markets.
Investors have also been buoyed by the raised likelihood that the European Central Bank will pause hiking interest rates in September, as weak business activity data pointed to deepening economic pain in Europe.
German business activity contracted at the fastest pace in over three years in August, while Britain’s business activity contracted unexpectedly, raising recession risks.
“The risk that the ECB has already overtightened is significant. [Today’s] PMI release reduces the chances of a September rate hike (our base case) and increases the chance that rate cuts will come earlier than most Governing Council members thought,” said economists at Citigroup, in a note.
ECB President Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey are scheduled to speak on Friday at the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium.
That said, Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech is likely to be the event’s highlight, with investors set to parse through his every word to figure out the next steps in monetary policy.
Oil prices edged lower Thursday as a series of weak PMI readings spurred concerns over slowing economic growth, likely hitting future global demand.
Data on Wednesday also showed an unexpected, substantial build in U.S. gasoline and distillate inventories over the past week, which pointed to weakening U.S. fuel demand and largely overshadowed a bigger-than-expected draw in broader crude inventories.
By 02:00 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.3% lower at $78.69 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.2% to $83.06.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,949.60/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.0871.
