Nasdaq futures rally as Micron surges after earnings; Wall Street awaits key inflation reading: Live updates

U.S. stock futures rose on Thursday, boosted by a blowout Micron Technology earnings report, as traders looked ahead to the release of a key inflation reading for May.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.7% and 2.1%, respectively. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 116 points, or 0.2%.

Micron surged 18% after the chipmaker reported fiscal third-quarter results that topped analysts’ expectations. Fellow semiconductor stock Qualcomm gained 10% after raising guidance for its non-handset revenue in fiscal 2029. Other chip names, such as Sandisk, Western Digital, Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials, rose in sympathy. Chip stocks in Europe also posted gains in Thursday’s trading session, with ASMI, Be Semiconductor and Soitec all rising sharply.

Outside of equities, the dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies — was about 0.1% higher in early morning trading. It rose on Wednesday amid mounting bets Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Investors will be watching for May’s personal consumption expenditures price index reading on Thursday morning, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the headline index to rise 0.5% on a monthly basis, slightly higher than April’s 0.4% gain, and 4.1% on a yearly basis, again larger than April’s rise of 3.8%.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, consensus sees the core PCE gaining 0.3% month-over-month and 3.4% year-over-year. Both those estimates are higher than April’s respective core PCE readings of 0.2% monthly and 3.3% over the prior 12 months.

Treasury yields edged higher as investors awaited the print, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note adding 1 basis point to trade at 4.414%.

Traders will also watch out for the final first-quarter gross domestic product reading, readings from May’s personal income and preliminary durable goods orders indexes, as well as initial jobless claims from the week ended June 20.

Asia-Pacific markets closed broadly higher. South Korea’s Kospi led gains, jumping 5.42% to 8,930.30, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 4.61% to 72,366.34. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.68% to 8,748.70. Hong Kong Hang Seng Index declined 1.6% in the last hour of trade, while the mainland’s CSI 300 was up 1.56% to 5,020.1.

Gains in chip stocks led equity markets higher in Europe in early trading, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 adding 0.61%.