Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Rally Ahead Of Jobs Data As Nvidia Calms AI Bubble Fears — Why A Top Strategist Favors US Equities

• Notable names reporting earnings on Wednesday are Walmart, Shoe Carnival, NetEase, Vipshop, Warner Music Group, Elastic, Gap, Intuit, Ross Stores and Webull.
• The September jobs data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with economists, on average, expecting an addition of 50,000 jobs during the month.
• Morgan Stanley stated the triumvirate of fiscal policy, monetary policy and deregulation is all working together in a way that rarely happens outside of a recession.

U.S. index futures traded sharply higher early Thursday as Nvidia Corp.’s (NVDA) stellar earnings report kicked off risk-on sentiment in the market. CEO Jensen Huang’s upbeat comments on the artificial intelligence revolution helped dispel lingering investor doubts. 

The executive spoke about “off the chart” demand for the company’s Blackwell AI architecture and said that, while AI bubble fears dominate, Nvidia was seeing signals to the contrary.

The only missing piece of the puzzle that would seal the deal for follow-on buying is the September monthly jobs data, which has been delayed. Given that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is skipping the October report and the November report won’t be released before the December Federal Reserve’s rate-setting meeting, traders will likely look to read between the lines of the September data.

Morgan Stanley recommended an ‘overweight’ position in U.S. equities, citing the investment landscape that is shifting toward a more favorable environment, particularly for risk assets. Serena Tang, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Global Cross-Asset Strategist, said, “The triumvirate of fiscal policy, monetary policy and deregulation is all working together in a way that rarely happens outside of a recession.”

“This unusually favorable policy mix allows markets to shift focus from global macro concerns to asset-specific narratives—particularly those related to AI investments.”

Tang said the U.S. equities will likely outperform global peers in 2026, with the S&P 500 rising to 7,800 in the next 12 months.

Morgan Stanley expects U.S. earnings and cash flow growth to benefit from several factors, including:

-a market-friendly policy mix

-interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve

-a reduction of $129 billion in corporate tax bills through 2026 and 2027 from the One Big Beautiful Act

-positive operating leverage

-the re-emergence of pricing power and AI-driven efficiency gains.“

How Futures Are Trading

As of 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures climbed 1.70% and 1.25%, respectively, while the Dow and Russell 2000 gained 0.60% and 0.85%.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, improved slightly to ‘neutral’ as of early Thursday from ‘bearish’ a day ago. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, continued to elicit ‘neutral’ sentiment. The message volume on the SPY and QQQ ETF streams remained at ‘high’ levels.

Commenting on the SPY stream, a watcher said the next few weeks will witness a short squeeze.

But a bearish user premised his pessimism on the view that AI is the “biggest scam perpetuated upon markets in 100 years.”

How Markets Fared Wednesday

Bargain hunting in beaten-down stocks generated some buying interest in the market on Wednesday, with IT and communication services stocks lending solid support. The S&P 500 snapped a four-day losing streak. 

The QQQ, SPY, and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) rose 0.39%, 0.60%,  and 0.10%, respectively, while the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) edged down 0.02%.

Key Catalysts To Watch Out For

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) September jobs data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with economists, on average, expecting an addition of 50,000 jobs during the month. The jobless rate is expected to remain steady at 4.3% and the annual rate of the average hourly earnings is estimated at 3.7%. The agency will release the weekly jobless claims data for the week that ended Nov. 15, also around the same time. 

The National Association of Realtors will release the existing home sales report for October at 10 a.m. ET.

Among the Federal Reserve officials speaking during the day are Governor Lisa Cook (11 a.m. ET) and Chicago Fed’s Austan Goolsbee (1:40 p.m. ET). Fed Governor Stephen Miran and the Philadelphia Fed’s Anna Pauson will make public appearances after the market closes.

Notable names reporting earnings on Thursday are Walmart, Shoe Carnival, NetEase, Vipshop, Warner Music Group, Elastic, Gap, Intuit, Ross Stores, and Webull.

How Other Markets Fared

Crude oil futures rose but remained below the $60-a-barrel mark, while gold futures moved lower amid the return of risk appetite.  The 10-year Treasury note was little changed early Thursday after Wednesday’s rise. The U.S. dollar Index, which closed above the 100 level on Wednesday, remained above it.

Asian stocks ended mostly higher, boosted by strong gains in regional tech stocks, although the Chinese and Malaysian markets experienced modest losses.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read Next: Jobs Data Disruptions Put Fed In Tight Spot Weeks Before Crucial December Rate Call

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