US stock index futures steadied Tuesday, consolidating a rally in technology shares, with focus now turning to an upcoming address by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as well as key economic data.
At 06:05 ET (11:05 GMT), Dow Jones Futuresrose 30 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futuresrose 5 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 10 points, or 0.1%.
Wall Street indexes were buoyed by a broader rally in tech stocks on Monday, which helped them recoup some of their losses from late-December and early-January.
Tech giants such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) all posted strong gains.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the NASDAQ Composite surged 1.3% Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Averagelagged, falling less than 0.1%.
Nvidia's Huang in focus
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) will remain in the spotlight Tuesday following an over 3% rally during the prior session, where the stock briefly hit a record high.
Focus was squarely on an upcoming address by CEO Jensen Huang at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later in the session.
Anticipation of Huang’s address helped Nvidia’s shares break out of a trading range seen for a bulk of late-2025, as investors awaited more potential insight into the company’s upcoming Blackwell artificial intelligence chips.
Huang is also expected to announce Nvidia’s next-generation line of PCE gaming cards.
Nvidia gained around $2 trillion in market capitalization through 2024, as the company further cemented its position as the premiere maker of advanced AI chips.
The company also acts as a bellwether for the broader tech sector, given its prevalence in the fast-growing AI industry.
Trump comments temper optimism
Beyond tech, gains in stock markets were somewhat tempered by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump denying media reports that his administration will pursue a less aggressive tariff regime than previously feared.
Trump denied a Washington Post report that his administration will only target certain sectors in imposing trade tariffs, instead of the broad tariffs promised by Trump during his campaigning.
Uncertainty over Trump’s policies had also weighed on Wall Street in the beginning of the year, given that he is widely expected to enact expansionary and protectionist policies that could underpin inflation and disrupt global trade.
Labor market data in focus
The major economic data release due later in the session is the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for November, as the focus turns to the labor market and what it is saying about the strength of the US economy.
The ADP private payrolls report is slated for Wednesday, ahead of Friday's widely-watched December’s nonfarm payrollsreport.
The Federal Reserve holds its next policy-setting meeting at the end of this month, and signaled a more cautious stance regarding cutting interest rates at its December meeting.
Crude bounces
Oil prices edged higher Tuesday, bouncing after the previous session's losses on optimism of more policy support to revive economic growth in China, the world’s largest crude importer.
By 03:10 ET, the US crude futures (WTI) climbed 0.5% to $73.92 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.7% to $76.80 a barrel.
Both benchmarks slid on Monday, after rising for five days in a row last week to settle at their highest levels since October on Friday.
