Oct 19 (Reuters) – US stock index futures gained on Monday as AI-related shares rebounded from last week’s sharp selloff, with easing oil prices and Treasury yields adding to investor optimism.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted their biggest weekly drop since late June on Friday, pressured by technology firms as concerns grew that higher interest rates could hamper investments into AI infrastructure, particularly among data center operators.
However, AI-linked stocks such as CoreWeave climbed 1.3% in premarket trading on Monday, while Broadcom added 2.3%. Megacap stocks also climbed, with Nvidia rising 1.1%. Amazon.com and Meta Platforms were up marginally.
Brent futures fell 1.8% to around $107 a barrel, following US President Donald Trump’s decision to waive some sanctions on Russia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday the president would take up to 60 days to assess the economic impact of such a move. [O/R]
At the same time, the benchmark 10-year yield fell to 5.085%.
Meanwhile, Iran reported another tanker had hit a mine in the Strait of Hormuz, while the cost of shipping and insurance was keeping oil prices for actual delivery a lot higher.
At 04:59 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 18 points, or 0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 36 points, or 0.47%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 292.25 points, or 0.99%.
Investors are also looking ahead to a busy week of earnings from major technology companies. Meta is expected to beat Wall Street estimates when it reports this week. Elon Musk-led Tesla is due to report on Wednesday, while SpaceX is scheduled to release results on Tuesday.
Netflix, General Motors and GE Aerospace are also among the companies reporting results this week.
Intel shares rose 3.8% after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to “neutral” from “underweight.”
Red Cat Holdings climbed 6.9% after the drone maker said it plans to acquire Austrian engine and engine parts manufacturer Steyr Motors in a deal valued at about €204.8 million ($230 million).
(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
