Stocks climb after another blowout report from Nvidia

Some relief is running through Wall Street on Thursday, and US stock futures are climbing after another blockbuster profit report from Nvidia suggested it and other stars created by the artificial-intelligence frenzy may indeed deserve their high stock prices.

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S&P 500 futures rose 1.6% before the opening bell Thursday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 1.8 and Nasdaq composite futures were 2.1% higher.

Nvidia rose 5.2% in pre-market trading after reporting a big profit for the summer that topped analysts’ expectations. The AI chip giant also gave a forecast for revenue that again easily cleared analysts’ estimates.

Also lifting optimism was a mixed report about the US job market from the federal government, one that keeps alive hope that the Federal Reserve may deliver another energizing cut to interest rates next month. The report showed hiring by US employers was stronger in September than economists expected, but the unemployment rate also worsened slightly.

Wall Street had been bracing for big swings on Thursday, depending on how Nvidia's profit report and the jobs update played out. The US stock market has been shaky for weeks because of worries that Nvidia and other AI superstar stocks simply shot too high in the mania around AI, with critics saying they were reminiscent of the 2000 dotcom bubble that ultimately imploded. Doubts were also rising about whether the Fed would continue cutting interest rates.