US stock futures rise as Alphabet earnings, Trump AI summit boost tech stocks
U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday evening, supported chiefly by technology stocks following strong earnings from Alphabet Inc, and as President Donald Trump outlined more support for the artificial intelligence industry, News.az reports citing Investing.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) was an outlier, falling over 4% in aftermarket trade as CEO Elon Musk flagged a “few rough quarters” for the electric vehicle maker after it clocked an underwhelming second quarter.
Futures remained upbeat after Wall Street notched fresh record highs during the session, after Trump announced a trade deal with Japan. Reports said that trade deals with other countries were also in progress, especially as an August 1 deadline for Trump’s tariffs draws closer.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.1% to 6,402.25 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.3% to 23,387.50 points by 20:09 ET (00:09 GMT). Dow Jones Futures fell 0.3% to 45,097.0 points.
Alphabet rises on strong Q2, hikes AI spending plans
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares rose about 1.8% in aftermarket trade, after the internet giant handily beat Wall Street expectations with its second-quarter earnings.
Alphabet reported earnings per share of $2.31, higher than estimates of $2.18.
The company flagged growing demand for its cloud services, and hiked its 2025 capital spending target to about $85 billion from $75 billion, while also forecasting higher spending in 2026.
The company saw increasing adoption of its AI offerings, while AI integration into its core search engine also boosted customer engagement. This saw advertising revenue, Alphabet’s biggest moneymaker, surge 10%.
Trump holds AI summit, signs three orders to boost industry
Technology stocks were also supported by Trump holding the White House’s first ever AI summit, where the president touted more favorable regulation for the industry. Trump also called for unified, federal regulation of AI.
Trump outlined a 90-part plan to boost AI, and signed three executive orders incorporating elements of the plan. These include measures to loosen environmental regulations around federal land, increase exports of AI technology, and block the federal use of politically biased AI.
Trump lauded chipmakers such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), and called for the U.S. to lead the AI industry.
Wall St at record highs on trade deal optimism
Wall Street indexes surged to record highs on Wednesday, buoyed by optimism over a trade deal with Japan. The deal will see Japan subject to a 15% tariff.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to a record high of 6,358.97 points, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.6% to 21,020.02 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to 21,020.02 points.
Trump said Japan will invest $550 billion in the U.S., and will also increase imports of American automobiles and agricultural products, especially rice.
The deal ramped up hopes that Washington will clinch more trade agreements before Trump’s proposed tariffs take effect from August 1. The president outlined steep tariffs against several major economies, ranging from 15% to 50%.
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