US stock futures rise after Wall St rebounds past Iran fears; Broadcom jumps

Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday evening, extending gains after a batch of strong economic readings helped Wall Street rise past persistent concerns over the Iran conflict.

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) was a standout performer in aftermarket trade after the artificial intelligence chipmaker clocked consensus-beating earnings and presented a strong outlook for the current quarter.

Markets were encouraged by signs of stability in oil markets, while bargain buyers also stepped in after heightened geopolitical tensions saw Wall Street log deep losses earlier this week.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.3% to 6,898.25 points by 19:42 ET (00:42 GMT). Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.4% to 25,223.75 points, while Dow Jones Futures rose 0.1% to 48,861.0 points.

Broadcom rises on strong AI-fueled outlook
Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) rose over 5% in aftermarket trade after it beat both top and bottom-line expectations with its fiscal first quarter earnings.

The company also forecast second quarter revenue of $22 billion, ahead of $20.4 billion, with nearly half of the print to come from sales of its advanced AI chips.

Broadcom’s earnings helped spur some confidence that the AI trade remained in play, with chipmakers in particular set to continue benefiting from the fast-growing industry.

Rival NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose 0.3% in aftermarket trade. The chipmaker’s CEO, Jensen Huang, said earlier on Wednesday that AI-fueled chip demand was “higher than very high.”

Software major CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) rose over 4% on Wednesday after the software developer clocked stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings, helping cool some concerns over AI-related disruptions in the enterprise software industry.

Wall St aided by strong data, steady oil prices
Wall Street indexes rose on Wednesday, aided in part by stronger-than-expected private payrolls data for February, which showed the labor market continuing to grow.

Separately, ISM’s purchasing managers index on U.S. service sector activity rose to an over three-year high in February, pointing to strong domestic demand. Additionally, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report showed the central bank maintaining an upbeat stance on the economy.

The prints come ahead of Challenger job cuts data on Thursday and nonfarm payrolls data on Friday. The latter will be closely watched for more cues on interest rates.

The S&P 500 added 0.8% on Wednesday, the NASDAQ Composite jumped 1.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%.

Wall Street was also supported by some stability in oil prices, which trimmed a bulk of their intraday gains after President Donald Trump offered to provide risk insurance to all maritime trade in the Strait of Hormuz, and also touted the possibility of naval intervention.

But oil remained close to multi-month highs, having rallied sharply after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran over the weekend, sparking bitter retaliation by the Islamic republic.

The conflict and its inflationary impact– especially through energy prices– remained a key point of concern for Wall Street, with its outbreak having sparked deep losses in U.S. stocks earlier this week.
U.S., Israeli, and Iranian officials signaled few plans to de-escalate this week. Iran on Wednesday denied recent reports that its intelligence ministry had reached out to the U.S. to discuss ending the war.