Futures connected to Canada’s main equity benchmark moved modestly lower on Thursday as market participants weighed a fresh round of U.S. technology-sector returns and guidance, with all eyes on Nvidia’s latest report.
By 06:36 ET (11:36 GMT), the S&P/TSX 60 index standard futures contract had retreated by 4 points, equivalent to 0.2%.
The pullback followed a record-setting day for the broader Canadian index. The S&P/TSX composite rose 0.5% to 34,127.33 on Wednesday, marking a new intraday high and eclipsing the peak recorded on Tuesday. That rally was driven in part by strength in the banking names: National Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal both posted first-quarter profits that exceeded expectations, helping lift the financials sector - a large weight in the TSX - by 1.7%.
U.S. futures were also subdued in early trading. At 06:45 ET, Dow Jones Futures were down 38 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures had slipped 5 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures were lower by 24 points, or 0.1%.
That followed a stronger session on Wall Street, where the main averages climbed: the S&P 500 gained 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, and the NASDAQ Composite advanced 1.3%. Much of that momentum has been tied to evolving sentiment toward artificial intelligence and the expected impact of AI-related demand on technology companies.
Nvidia was the focal point for investors. The chip maker reported revenue and profit for the three months to end-January that came in ahead of expectations, and it guided to stronger-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, reflecting continued demand for its advanced chips driven by AI-related spending. Despite the upbeat results and outlook, gains in Nvidia shares were restrained amid investor concern about how much capital the company is returning to shareholders.
"Nvidia generated $35 billion in cash during the fourth quarter, but gave back only 12%, down from 52% this time last year," said Yvette Schmitter, CEO of IT consulting firm Fusion Collective.
Schmitter added that "this is happening at the same time Nvidia is claiming" that its sold-out Ampere chips are a "good signal for demand."
Analysts at Vital Knowledge summarized the market reaction, stating: "Nvidia is obviously dominating the narrative - the company put up solid numbers (beating in the quarter and guiding ahead of expectations), but this wasn’t really a shock, and people are still nervous about the sustainability of the AI capex boom."
Even with those caveats, Nvidia’s results were read as evidence the company is positioned to benefit from ongoing AI-fueled demand in coming quarters, a dynamic that could provide support to the wider technology sector.
At the same time, Salesforce shares sank in premarket trading after the cloud-software firm released a fiscal 2027 revenue forecast that fell short of Wall Street estimates, a sign that demand for enterprise software may be under pressure as corporate budgets are reined in amid economic uncertainty.
Investors also had a slate of additional quarterly reports to consider on Thursday, with Warner Bros Discovery, Dell Technologies and CoreWeave all scheduled to release results.
Geopolitical developments added to market nervousness. U.S. and Iranian negotiators were meeting in Geneva for their third round of talks this year focused on Iran’s nuclear activity. U.S. President Donald Trump warned that "bad things" could happen if meaningful progress is not achieved, and the United States has assembled one of its largest military deployments in the Middle East. Market participants noted that an expanded conflict could threaten Iranian oil supplies; Iran is the third-largest crude producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Oil prices moved lower from recent highs as traders booked profits. Brent futures fell 1.2% to $69.86 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude declined 1.6% to $64.35 a barrel.
Precious metals saw mixed action. Gold inched higher earlier on safe-haven flows tied to trade-tariff jitters and the diplomatic developments between Washington and Tehran, though gains were pared back. Spot gold was last mostly unchanged at $5,164.31 an ounce, while U.S. Gold Futures were down 0.9% at $5,179.40/oz.
Traders were also evaluating the market impact of newly-announced U.S. tariffs that followed a recent Supreme Court ruling that overturned the president’s broader "reciprocal" tariff approach. In addition, global investors awaited U.S. economic releases later in the day, including weekly jobless claims, for further guidance on the domestic outlook. So far this year, bullion has been supported by persistent geopolitical tensions, central bank purchases and flows into portfolio diversification, market observers noted.
Finally, for investors tracking valuations, the piece of research tied to Dell suggests one way to assess bargain opportunities: a fair value calculator that uses a mix of 17 industry valuation models to estimate value. The tool is presented as a method to evaluate whether a stock such as Dell represents an undervalued opportunity, according to the material accompanying the earnings calendar.
Market participants will continue to parse corporate reports, geopolitical signals and incoming U.S. economic data for clues to near-term direction, with technology earnings and the energy and precious metals complex among the sectors most directly affected.