US stock futures rose on Friday as Amazon’s cloud results revived the artificial-intelligence trade, offsetting a sharp retreat in Apple after its cautious outlook.
At 7:00 AM ET, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1.22%, while S&P 500 contracts added 0.48% and Dow futures rose 340 points, or 0.64%.
The rebound put Wall Street on course for a positive end to a volatile week, but July’s damage has not disappeared.
Chip stocks remain deeply lower for the month, interest-rate expectations are unsettled and investors are still demanding proof that record AI expenditure can produce durable revenue, margins and cash flow over time.
5 things to know before Wall Street opens
1. Amazon gives the AI trade its strongest answer
Amazon jumped about 12% before the bell after reporting its fastest cloud growth in 18 quarters.
AWS revenue rose 37% to $42.2 billion, while group sales increased 20% to $200.6 billion.
The figures offered the clearest evidence this week that hyperscaler spending is translating into demand rather than simply consuming cash.
Cité Gestion strategist John Plassard said Amazon had strengthened the case that AI momentum remains intact among the largest cloud operators.
Nvidia gained 1.5% and Micron rose 3.5%, extending Thursday’s semiconductor rebound.
2. Apple turns supply into the market’s new concern
Apple slid 7.3% despite reporting a 16% increase in quarterly revenue to $109.42 billion, helped by record iPhone sales and a sharp rise in Mac revenue.
Investors focused instead on management’s warning that component shortages would constrain growth in the September quarter.
The company expects revenue growth of 9% to 11%, below the roughly 12% pace Wall Street had anticipated.
Analysts are also assessing whether higher memory costs could force Apple to raise iPhone prices, potentially testing demand in a market already sensitive to consumer affordability.
3. July’s chip rout still casts a long shadow
The late-week recovery has not repaired the month’s damage.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index remains more than 20% below its June record after investors questioned valuations, leverage and the return on unprecedented infrastructure spending.
Microsoft eased 0.8% after surging more than 15% on Thursday and adding about $450 billion in market value, the largest one-day increase recorded for a US company.
Alphabet, Meta and Tesla rose in premarket trading, suggesting investors are returning selectively rather than buying the entire technology complex.
4. The Fed has reduced certainty, not rate risk
The Federal Reserve held its target range at 3.5% to 3.75% in a 9-3 vote on Wednesday.
Three policymakers preferred a quarter-point increase, underlining the committee’s concern about inflation even as officials declined to tighten immediately.
Futures markets assigned roughly a 60% chance to a September increase after the meeting, down from more than 80% a week earlier.
That repricing supports growth shares, but long-dated Treasury yields near multi-year highs remain a threat to technology valuations.
5. Consumer sentiment and stock-specific shocks remain ahead
The final University of Michigan consumer-sentiment reading for July is due at 10 am ET. The preliminary index rose to 54.4 from 49.5 in June, while one-year inflation expectations eased to 4.2%.
Company news may also create pockets of volatility. GoDaddy dropped 12.4% after narrowing its annual revenue forecast.
The broader market enters August with momentum improving, but Friday’s gains still depend heavily on Amazon sustaining confidence in the AI spending cycle.
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