U.S. futures are on the rise as investors monitor key developments in the tech sector, particularly around Nvidia and Microsoft. Nvidia’s stock has stabilized after a volatile day following the resignation of its longtime CEO, Jensen Huang, who stepped down amid national security concerns related to his personal relationship with a Chinese tech executive. The company’s shares initially plunged 15% but recovered somewhat, leaving investors questioning the future of the AI-driven company. Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, will take over as interim CEO.
Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to grapple with a global outage affecting its web services, including Outlook, Teams, and AI assistant Copilot. Despite the disruption, the incident appears to have had little direct impact on markets, with Microsoft’s stock down 1.4% in premarket trading.
Wall Street is also awaiting the release of the U.S. producer price index for October, which will provide further insights into inflation trends. The September report showed the largest increase since December 2022, driven by rising fuel prices, particularly for diesel, which have pushed up shipping and warehousing costs.
In energy markets, oil prices are mixed after U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. does not need a deal with Iran, despite ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Brent crude is up 0.2% at $96.04 per barrel, while benchmark U.S. crude has fallen 0.4% to $88.39 per barrel.