Broadcom Earnings Spoil Tech Rally Amid Rate Fears

U.S. stock index futures remained stagnant in late-evening trade on Wednesday, as an after-hours slump in tech giant Broadcom overshadowed a modest cash-session rebound.

Broadcom's quarterly earnings check-in served as an industry-wide gauge for the health of enterprise AI capital expenditure, and while it delivered top- and bottom-line beats, a fractionally soft fourth-quarter revenue outlook spoiled the party. The chipmaker's AI semiconductor sales tripled to $16.7 billion.

The pause in equity futures reflects widespread exhaustion across trading desks following a bruising start to September. Investors are grappling with a complex web of macro risks, including direct U.S.-Iranian military strikes in the Persian Gulf and rising bets that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates later this month.