U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open on Monday, suggesting Wall Street may build on last week’s positive momentum as strong gains in Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) lift sentiment across the technology sector.
The AI chipmaker climbed 2.2% in premarket trading after Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) confirmed it had received export licenses from the Trump administration to ship Nvidia’s advanced chips to the United Arab Emirates. The development provided a fresh boost to optimism surrounding the semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries.
Even with the upbeat tone, analysts expect trading activity to remain subdued as investors await key economic data later in the week. The upcoming ADP private payroll report, due Wednesday, could offer one of the few insights into the U.S. labor market amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, which has delayed several major economic releases.
The report will be closely watched for clues about employment trends and their potential impact on interest rate policy, particularly after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that further rate cuts were not guaranteed.
Stocks ended last week on a high note after a volatile Friday session, during which major indexes swung between gains and losses before finishing in the green. The Nasdaq advanced 0.6% to 23,724.96, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 6,840.20, and the Dow added 0.1% to 47,562.87. For the week, the Nasdaq led with a 2.2% rise, followed by the Dow and S&P 500, up 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.
The rally was driven largely by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which soared 9.6% after reporting stronger-than-expected third-quarter results and a sharp increase in cloud computing revenue.
“The e-commerce division may have by far the bigger public profile but it’s the cloud services AWS division which is the real engine of Amazon’s growth and, it’s this which sparked the share price into life,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
He continued, “Demand for computing power linked to AI is showing no signs of letting up and that is driving significant growth for AWS, with third-quarter numbers helping to ease fears that this business was losing ground to rival operators.”
Other notable movers included Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), which rose after its board approved a ten-for-one stock split, and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which slipped despite strong quarterly results and optimistic forward guidance.
Meanwhile, Powell’s post-meeting comments last week added uncertainty to the rate outlook, saying another reduction in December is “not a foregone conclusion” and that officials had “strongly differing views about how to proceed.”
Sector-wise, retail stocks surged, with the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index climbing 4.0% to its highest level in more than a month, boosted by Amazon’s rally. Airline stocks also gained, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index jumping 2.7% after hitting a two-month low.
Biotech, hardware, and brokerage shares posted solid advances, while gold-related stocks fell in tandem with a drop in precious metal prices.