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Investing.com — U.S. stock index futures rose in overnight trading Monday, driven largely by strong AI returns from cloud giant Oracle, but gains were limited by caution ahead of key inflation data. It became.
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:) helped fuel the rally in other technology stocks, especially after quiet trading on Wall Street raised concerns that the sector's rally was losing momentum.
By 19:07 ET (23:07 GMT), it rose 0.2% to 5,196.75 points and rose 0.4% to 18,280.75 points. It rose by 0.1% to 39,264.0 points.
Oracle soars on AI-driven earnings, boosting tech stocks
Oracle was one of the best-performing companies in aftermarket trading, surging nearly 14% after posting better-than-expected quarterly profits due to increased demand for its AI products.
The cloud computing company announced a joint announcement this week with AI darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:), citing expectations for increased demand for cloud infrastructure from the growing AI industry.
Given that AI hype has been the main driver of the stock's rise in recent months, Oracle's rally has spilled over to other tech companies in expansion trades. Nvidia rose 1.3%, while Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:) rose 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively.
But apart from Oracle, most major tech stocks remained in the red over the past two sessions as investors locked in recent gains in the sector ahead of further cues on U.S. interest rates.
It fell 0.1% to 5,117.94 points on Monday and fell 0.4% to 16,019.27 points. It closed 0.1% higher at 38,769.66 points.
CPI data waits for signal of rate cut
The focus now is on key February data to be released later on Tuesday, which will likely be factored into the Federal Reserve's outlook for rate cuts this year.
The reading is expected to show that inflation remains roughly stable and well above the Fed's annual target range of 2%.
Tuesday's inflation numbers also came days after several Fed officials, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, warned that their rate cut plans in 2024 would largely depend on the trajectory of inflation.
Acadia Pharma plunges in aftermarket trading, meta recovers
Some other aftermarket moving companies include acadia pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) fell nearly 16% after disappointing top-line results from a Phase 3 clinical trial for a treatment for schizophrenia.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:) rose 0.9%, slowly recovering from a more than 4% drop in the previous session after former President Donald Trump called Facebook “the enemy of the people.” .