Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were slightly higher on Wednesday, stabilizing after volatile sessions earlier this week as investors assessed risks to the AI trade and brewing tariff doubts heading into Nvidia's earnings due later in the day.
February has been a choppy month for U.S. equities as investors questioned if massive AI spending touted by technology giants was actually paying off, while tariff uncertainty further stoked volatility.
Several sectors ranging from commercial real
estate to trucking and logistics have recently logged steep declines, as new developments in the AI space stoked worries of industry-wide disruptions.
"Investors are searching for long-term 'winners' that will use AI to become more productive, but very few companies have quantified the impact on earnings," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.
"For the companies facing fears of AI disruption, we believe earnings stabilization is the key to share price stabilization, but disruption uncertainty is unlikely to be resolved in the near term."
U.S. President Donald Trump boasted of stock market gains in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday and said that "almost all" countries and corporations want to stick to tariff and investment agreements previously made with the United States.
Trump's temporary global tariff of 10% came into effect on Tuesday after the Supreme Court's sweeping ruling last week. He later said the levy would be 15%, but it was unclear when and if it would apply.
Stocks got a boost on Tuesday as sentiment towards AI stocks improved, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq closing more than 1% higher.
At 04:49 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Dow E-minis were up 58 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 10 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 48.75 points, or 0.19%.
All eyes will be on Nvidia's earnings due after markets close on Wednesday, with AI investors seeking evidence that the chipmaker's profits are growing on the back of Big Tech's $630 billion capital spending budget for 2026.
Its shares edged 0.5% higher in premarket trading, while other megacap and growth stocks were mixed.
Axon Enterprise climbed 15.9% after the taser-maker beat fourth-quarter profit estimates, while Workday dropped 8.9% after the enterprise software maker forecast fiscal 2027 subscription revenue below estimates.
First Solar shed 15.2% after the solar panel maker projected annual sales below estimates, while HP Inc lost 5.1% as the personal devices maker forecast a slump in its PC shipments.
Off-price retailer TJX Companies and home improvement retailer Lowe's Companies are some of the prominent companies reporting earnings before the bell.
Earnings from major software firms including Salesforce, Intuit and Snowflake will be on the radar later this week, given that the S&P 500 software and services index has slumped almost 23% so far this year amid growing AI disruption fears.
At least three Federal Reserve officials are slated to speak throughout the day as investors hunt for clues on the future monetary policy path. Two Fed officials speaking on Tuesday signaled no near-term appetite to change the setting of central bank interest rate policy.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
