ICMarket

Friday 31st July 2026: Nasdaq Futures Rise as Amazon Earnings Lift AI Optimism


Global Markets:

  •  Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 3.69%, Shanghai Composite up 0.76% Hang Seng down 0.28% ASX up 0.19%
  • Commodities : Gold at $4,075.90 (-0.59%) Silver at $58.673 (-0.58%), Brent Oil at 85.83 (-1.22%), WTI Oil at 82.30 (-1.53%)
  • Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.651, UK 10-year yield at 4.9869, Germany 10-year yield at 3.1682

News & Data:

  • (USD) Core PCE Price Index m/m
  •  0.1%  to 0.2%  expected

Markets Update:

Nasdaq futures edged higher in overnight trading on Friday as Wall Street extended its rebound, supported by strong corporate earnings and renewed optimism around artificial intelligence.

Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.2%. S&P 500 futures added 0.1%.

Asian markets also advanced. South Korea’s Kospi jumped more than 13% after chip giants SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rallied sharply, triggering a trading halt. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed over 3%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.89%.

In after-hours trading, Amazon surged more than 9% after reporting second-quarter revenue that beat expectations, driven by continued strength in its cloud-computing business. The results reinforced investor confidence in AI-related spending.

Apple also reported fiscal third-quarter revenue above forecasts, supported by a 22% increase in iPhone sales. However, weaker-than-expected services revenue weighed on sentiment, sending its shares down about 6%.

Thursday’s rally followed Microsoft’s 16% surge after the company posted stronger-than-expected Azure cloud growth, lifting AI-related chipmakers and pushing the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) up more than 8%.

The rebound came after Wednesday’s sharp sell-off, when the Dow fell more than 1,100 points following the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, raising concerns about inflation.

Despite the week’s volatility, major U.S. indexes remained on track for weekly gains, with the Dow up 0.5%, the S&P 500 higher by 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite advancing about 0.6%.

Upcoming Events:

  • 12:30 PM GMT – CAD GDP m/m

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