* Futures up: Dow 0.5%, S&P 0.4%, Nasdaq 1.15%
* Amazon ( AMZN ) jumps as AWS growth soothes fears over rising AI
spending
* Apple ( AAPL ) slides as supply snags cloud outlook
* July selloff puts chip index on track for worst month
since 2008
(Updates before markets open)
By Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur
July 31 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq was set to open higher and
lead gains among Wall Street's main indexes on Friday, boosted
by Amazon's ( AMZN ) 10.5% jump after the Big Tech company
joined some of its peers in delivering strong cloud revenue
growth, putting to rest concerns about AI returns.
Limiting some optimism, Apple ( AAPL ) warned that supply
constraints would hurt growth, prompting investors to look
beyond near-term shortages to gauge the hit from an expected
iPhone price hike as its shares dropped 7.8% in premarket
trading.
This week was what some analysts called 'make-or-break' for
the tech sector that had been rattled by investors taking some
profits through July following a strong end to the second
quarter, as they awaited signs that investments made by AI
leaders at the expense of free cash flow were paying off.
Amazon ( AMZN ) reported its biggest revenue growth in over four
years for the previous quarter on Thursday, joining similar
reports from Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Alphabet earlier
this month, prompting investors to look past the big drop in
cash flows that the companies also logged.
"Amazon ( AMZN ) showed us, without a shadow of a doubt, that the
web-services or AI side of the business is driving growth for
the company," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park
Investments in New York.
"Investors are able to look past the free-cash-flow decline
because it is one component. If growth continues, it will make
up for that shortfall."
Shares of Microsoft ( MSFT ) dipped 0.1% after logging its biggest
one-day gain on record for a company in the previous session,
while Alphabet, Meta and Tesla rose about 1%
each. Among chip stocks, Nvidia ( NVDA ) climbed 0.8% and Micron
gained 3.6%.
At 7:23 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 284 points, or
0.54%, and S&P 500 E-minis were up 30.25 points, or
0.4%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 325 points, or 1.15%.
TOUGH MONTH FOR STOCKS
All three of Wall Street's main indexes are on track for
weekly gains, aided by the strong rebound late this week, but
are on track for monthly losses reflecting the sharp selloff
AI-linked stocks witnessed through July.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index is still down
over 20% in July, which would mark its biggest monthly fall
since the housing bubble burst in late 2008. Investors instead
took notice of other sectors, as the S&P 500 equally weighted
index is on track for its fourth-straight month of
gains.
"This momentum crash was tremendous and the positioning has
been rinsed," said Laurent Clavel, global head of multi-asset at
AXA Investment Managers, BNP Paribas Asset Management.
"Going into August, if anything, we are going back into it
slowly. We're buying this weakness and we're re-buying this AI
narrative," Clavel said.
The week also brought uncertainty in terms of interest rates
after the Federal Reserve left its benchmark rate on hold.
Chairman Kevin Warsh's commentary and a broadly benign inflation
report on Thursday led investors to price in a 35% chance that
rates will remain unchanged in September- up from about 18% last
week, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
The University of Michigan's July consumer sentiment survey
is due at 10 a.m. ET.
Chipmaker Monolithic Power Systems gained 11% after
forecasting third-quarter revenue above estimates. Domain
registrar GoDaddy ( GDDY ) lost 16% after narrowing its annual
revenue forecast.