(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
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F5 rises on upbeat Q2 revenue forecast
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Qorvo ( QRVO ) falls on sequential drop in revenue
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Danaher ( DHR ) falls after fourth-quarter results
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Futures up: Dow 0.03%, S&P 500 0.14%, Nasdaq 0.46%
(Updates with results from Danaher ( DHR ))
By Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta
Jan 29 (Reuters) - Nasdaq futures inched higher on
Wednesday as chip sector stocks gained after quarterly orders
for semiconductor equipment maker ASML exceeded expectations,
while investors awaited the Federal Reserve's interest-rate
decision later in the day.
Markets widely expecting the central bank to hold its
lending rate steady in its decision due at 2 p.m. ET.
"Market pricing has shifted significantly higher since the
U.S. presidential election and indicates basically zero percent
probability of a cut today," said Amanda Sundström, FX & FI
strategist at SEB.
Markets have been on edge due to worries around President
Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, which could exacerbate
inflationary pressures and slow rate cuts.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday
that Trump still plans to make good on his promise to issue
tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Saturday.
The December reading of the personal consumption
expenditures price index, a crucial metric in assessing the
inflation trajectory, is due on Friday.
Point72 Asset Management's founder Steven Cohen said he
expects the stock market to reach a peak soon amid inflation
pressure and uncertainties around Trump's policies on tariffs
and immigration.
On Wednesday, UPS and T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) are some
of the companies set to report quarterly earnings before the
bell.
Earnings from "Magnificent 7" members Microsoft ( MSFT ),
Facebook-parent Meta and Tesla are expected
after markets close. Apple ( AAPL ) will also report quarterly
numbers later this week.
Meanwhile, shares of semiconductor firms and related
equipment makers advanced in premarket trading after Dutch firm
ASML reported fourth-quarter bookings of 7.09 billion
euros ($7.39 billion), a number that far exceeded expectations.
KLA Corp ( KLAC ), Applied Materials ( AMAT ), Lam Research ( LRCX )
and Micron Technology ( MU ) advanced between 2.6% and
4.7%.
At 06:59 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 14 points, or
0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 8.25 points, or 0.14%,
and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 100 points, or 0.46%.
The Nasdaq jumped 2% in the last session, while the
S&P 500 rose close to 1%, as Nvidia ( NVDA ) and other
artificial intelligence-linked tech shares recovered somewhat
from the steep losses earlier this week.
Nvidia ( NVDA ) edged 0.4% lower after gaining close to 9%
on Tuesday. Its shares were hammered on Monday after Chinese
startup DeepSeek launched an AI model it said was cost-effective
and ran on less-advanced chips.
Among other stocks, cybersecurity and cloud services firm F5
jumped 13.9% after forecasting second-quarter revenue
above estimates and beating first-quarter revenue estimates.
Chipmaker Qorvo lost 5.1% after reporting lower
third-quarter revenue.
Danaher ( DHR ) fell 4.8% after the life sciences company
reported fourth-quarter adjusted profit below estimates and said
it expects first-quarter 2025 adjusted core revenue to decline.