U.S. stock index futures were largely subdued on Thursday morning after Nvidia posted quarterly results that beat expectations yet drew only a muted investor response. In premarket action Nvidia rose 0.6% following the results and a revenue guide for the current quarter that came in above consensus.
Analysts and market participants signaled a higher bar for AI-related investments to translate into sustained equity gains. "The needle has clearly shifted when it comes to what its going to take to convince investors that the billions being poured into AI infrastructure will pay off," said Raffi Boyadjian, lead market analyst at Trading Point. "Markets are now moving into a phase where they want to see tangible results of AI monetization before pushing AI stocks above their recent ranges."
Most megacap and growth names, including Apple and Microsoft, were trading in a flat-to-lower band early in the session. At 05:51 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 53 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 6.25 points, or 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 27 points, or 0.11%.
Cloud software provider Salesforce weighed on sentiment after the company said fiscal 2027 revenue would come in below expectations, a forecast that sent its shares down 3.1%. The warning from Salesforce underscored softness in enterprise spending on business software and drew fresh attention to software earnings as the current season progresses.
The S&P 500 software and services index has fallen nearly 21% so far this year, the article noted, as worries about AI-driven disruption have unsettled the sector. While software names have been among the hardest hit, other areas that recorded significant declines amid AI-related concerns earlier in the year included financial brokerage, data analytics and legal services, real estate services, and trucking.
February has proved volatile for U.S. equities, with headline indexes swinging between gains and losses as investor sentiment about AI and technology spending oscillates. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both finished at two-week highs on Wednesday, supported by a rally in heavyweight technology shares.
A number of companies were scheduled to report earnings before the bell on Thursday, among them Warner Bros Discovery, Hormel Foods, and utility Vistra. Market participants were also watching incoming economic data: weekly jobless claims were due later in the day, and January producer prices were slated for release on Friday.
Individual company moves highlighted the uneven earnings picture. Trade Desk fell 16.9% after the advertising-technology firm projected first-quarter revenue below estimates and flagged intensifying competition from larger rivals. C3.ai slid 22.7% after forecasting current-quarter sales below expectations and announcing a reduction of about 26% of its global workforce.
Energy-sector names were marginally lower, with Exxon Mobil and Chevron each off roughly 0.4%, tracking weaker crude oil prices. Those moves came as investors weighed whether U.S.-Iran discussions might avert a military escalation that could disrupt supply and push oil prices higher.
ProPicks AI evaluation blurb included in the same filing highlighted how the system assesses Nvidia and thousands of other companies using more than 100 financial metrics. The description stated the AI looks beyond popularity to evaluate fundamentals, momentum, and valuation, aiming to identify stocks with the most attractive risk-reward profiles based on current data. The note cited past winners it said the system had identified, and invited readers to check whether Nvidia or other opportunities in the same space appear in ProPicks AI strategies.
Overall, the market reaction on Thursday reflected a cautious stance: strong corporate results no longer automatically translate into broad market enthusiasm, and the bar for demonstrating profitable AI monetization appears to be rising among investors.