U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, boosted by strong quarterly update from TSMC that reinforced investor optimism around AI, extending a rally in chip stocks in the previous sessions.

Market Snapshot

At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 127 points, or 0.27%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 26 points, or 0.39%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 140 points, or 0.56%.

Pre-Market Movers

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing rose 1.8% after third-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates. Revenue surged 30% from a year earlier to 989.92 billion New Taiwanese dollars, boosted by strong demand for its AI semiconductors, which it manufactures for chip makers like Nvidia.

Advanced Micro Devices declined slightly following a 9.4% gain Wednesday to a record high of $238.60. The stock has risen nearly 98% in 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data. HSBC analyst Frank Lee raised his price target on AMD to $310 from $185 and reaffirmed his Buy rating, saying that the " OpenAI deal implies massive AI revenue upside potential, which is still underestimated by consensus," he wrote.

AMD rival Nvidia, the leading maker of artificial-intelligence chips, rose 1.3% after falling 0.1% in the previous session. Semiconductor peers Micron Technology and Broadcom also rose 3.7% and 1.7%, respectively.

Salesforce jumped 6.1% ahead of the opening bell after the software vendor announced financial targets for the coming five years. Salesforce told investors at the company's annual Dreamforce conference that it expects revenue of more than $60 billion in 2030. It also guided for an organic year-over-year revenue growth rate above 10% in 2026 through 2030.

Shares of Snowflake surged 6% while Palantir gained 1% in pre-market trading on Thursday, as investors reacted positively to a major announcement from the cloud-based data warehousing company. The significant uptick comes as Snowflake continues to solidify its position in the competitive data analytics market.

NIO's U.S.-listed shares dropped 6.7%. Singapore's sovereign-wealth fund GIC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. seeking damages from the Chinese electric-vehicle maker, claiming it inflated the value of its securities. GIC and NIO didn't respond to requests from Barron's for comment.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise dropped 9.2% after surprising Wall Street with weaker-than-expected guidance for 2026. During an analyst meeting at the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the server and cloud company said it expects fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of between $2.20 and $2.40 a share, with revenue growing between 5% and 10%. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.43 a share with revenue growth of 17%.

Travelers fell 4.8% after the property and casualty insurer reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $8.14 a share, surpassing Wall Street estimates, but net premiums written of $11.47 billion missed forecasts of $11.81 billion.

Logistics company J.B. Hunt Transport Services soared 13% after reporting third-quarter profit comfortably above Wall Street's estimates. Earnings of $1.76 a share beat consensus estimates of $1.46.

United Airlines fell 0.8%. The carrier beat third-quarter adjusted earnings expectations and offered a better-than-expected outlook, but revenue of $15.2 billion, higher than last year, was slightly lower than analysts' calls for $15.3 billion.

U.S. Bancorp gained 3.6% after posting third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street estimates. Return on tangible equity in the third quarter was 18.6%.

Market News

Fed's Waller: Available Data Show Ongoing Labor Weakness, Bolstering Rate Cut Case

Data available even in the absence of delayed U.S. government employment reports tells a consistent story of weak hiring, bolstering the need for the Federal Reserve to cut rates even as other data points to solid economic growth, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Thursday.

"Either GDP momentum comes down or the labor market rebounds...They don't go together," Waller said on the Bloomberg Surveilliance television show.

Critical Mineral Firms Boost Washington Lobbying as US Expands Investments

Critical mineral companies are boosting lobbying efforts in Washington, hoping to share in the ambitious investments that U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to firms deemed essential to national security, a Reuters review of public records and interviews with executives and officials showed.

At least a dozen companies — including lithium, copper, rare earths, and geothermal firms — have signed with major Washington lobbying firms since January, the review found.