S&P 500 futures rise as Wall Street looks for Nvidia to keep leading market

S&P 500 futures climbed on Thursday morning as investors look for the benchmark to add to its latest record high.

Futures tied to the broad market index added 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.64%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pulled back 17 points, or 0.04%.

Stocks are headed for a winning week after the S&P 500 reached a fresh record on Tuesday, alongside the Nasdaq Composite. The stock market was closed Wednesday for the Juneteenth holiday.

Nvidia led the charge higher as the artificial intelligence darling and chipmaker surpassed Microsoft to become the most valuable company in the world. Nvidia stock has climbed 174% in 2024, as the AI boom continues to boost equities.

Nvidia already surpassed Apple by market cap earlier in June, and has cemented its place as the de facto market leader at the helm of the roaring AI theme on Wall Street. Investors continue to pile into AI heavyweights even as consumers show slowing signs of spending and signaling potential economic weakness. The rise of Nvidia has spilled over to peer chipmaker Broadcom, which has surged more than 61% in 2024.

“Is it any surprise that we continue to argue that Wall Street (i.e., SP 500) is beating to a different drum than is Main Street (underlying US economy)?” Citi head of U.S. equity strategy Scott Chronert wrote in a Tuesday note. “No doubt, the generative AI influence as an ongoing incremental growth driver is permeating the US equity environment right now.”

Still, some commentators have noted concern over a lack of market breadth outside the largest technology companies that could worsen, although the dour sentiment has yet to fully influence stocks that have continued to break records.

“[The AI theme] has a very 2000-2001’esque feel, but as we know the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent,” said Thomas Fitzpatrick, managing director at R.J. O’Brien and Associates. “A day of reckoning will come but [it’s] hard to stand in the way of a speeding train.”

Investors will also parse fresh economic data in the second half of the week, including initial jobless claims figures and housing starts data on Thursday morning.