S&P 500 futures rise as Micron surges after earnings; Wall Street awaits key inflation reading: Live updates

U.S. stock futures rose early Thursday, boosted by a blowout Micron Technology earnings report, as traders looked ahead to the release of a key inflation reading for May.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.7% and 2.1%, respectively. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat.

The futures data pointed to a sharp rebound for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which fell in Wednesday's regular trading session. Micron surged almost 15% in Wednesday's extended trading after the chipmaker reported fiscal third-quarter results that topped analysts' expectations. In pre-market trading on Thursday, Micron shares were up 16.6%.

Fellow semiconductor stock Qualcomm gained 12.2% in pre-market trading after raising guidance for its non-handset revenue in fiscal 2029, with other chip names, such as Sandisk, Western Digital, Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials all rose in sympathy. Chip stocks in Europe also posted gains in Thursday's trading session, with ASMI, Be Semiconductor and Soitec all rising sharply.

Outside of equities, the dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies — was about 0.1% lower in early morning trading, after rising on Wednesday amid mounting bets Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Investors will be watching for May's personal consumption expenditures price index reading on Thursday morning, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the headline index to rise 0.5% on a monthly basis, slightly higher than April's 0.4% gain, and 4.1% on a yearly basis, again larger than April's rise of 3.8%.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, consensus sees the core PCE gaining 0.3% month-over-month and 3.4% year-over-year. Both those estimates are higher than April's respective core PCE readings of 0.2% monthly and 3.3% over the prior 12 months.

Treasury yields edged higher in the early hours of Thursday as investors awaited the print, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note adding 1 basis point to trade at 4.412%.

McCormick, Commercial Metals, Darden Restaurants and Winnebago will report earnings before Thursday's opening bell. Traders will also watch out for the final first-quarter gross domestic product reading, readings from May's personal income and preliminary durable goods orders indexes, as well as initial jobless claims from the week ended June 20.

Asia-Pacific markets closed broadly higher. South Korea's Kospi led gains, jumping 5.42% to 8,930.30, while Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 4.61% to 72,366.34. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.68% to 8,748.70. Hong Kong Hang Seng Index declined 1.6% in the last hour of trade, while the mainland's CSI 300 was up 1.56% to 5,020.1.

Gains in chip stocks led equity markets higher in Europe in early trading, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 adding 0.61% by 10:30 a.m. in London (5.30 a.m. ET).

Micron soared in premarket trading on Thursday after the memory maker reported blockbuster third-quarter earnings as the AI boom causes demand for memory to surge.

The company's revenue more than quadrupled from $9.3 billion a year earlier to $41.46 billion in its fiscal third quarter, it reported on Wednesday. Revenue came in higher than analyst expectations of nearly $36 billion, according to LSEG consensus estimates.

The company is now forecasting revenue of about $50 billion for the current quarter, an increase from $11.3 billion in the prior year. Its stock was last seen up 16.4% in premarket trading and rose a staggering 723% over the past year, pushing the company's market cap to $1.2 trillion.

Europe-listed shares rebounded on Thursday morning, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 adding around 0.5% an hour into the session.

The regional Stoxx 600 Tech index jumped 2.4% in early trading, after sentiment was lifted following Micron's earnings beat on Wednesday. Â

Semiconductor materials maker Soitec led gains, jumping 6.5%, with Infineon, ASMI and Be Semiconductor all adding more than 5%.

Elsewhere, low-cost carrier EasyJet jumped by around 5.5% after the group rejected a fourth takeover bid worth $6.5 billion from Clearlake Capital. The private equity group may come back with yet another bid after EasyJet agreed to provide Clearlake with limited access to commercial information.

Japanese and South Korean stocks advanced higher in Thursday's trading session, recovering from a tech rout that occurred earlier in the week.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 4.61% to 72,366.34, with tech giant SoftBank up 7.9%.

South Korea's Kospi jumped 5.42% to 8,930.30. Among South Korean stocks, SK Hynix surged 13% while Samsung gained 5.29%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index declined 1.6% in the last hour of trade, while the mainland's CSI 300 was up 1.56% to 5,020.1. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.68% to 8,748.70.

Investors continue to rely on professional financial advisers for their final investment decisions, even as artificial intelligence becomes more widely used in the initial stages of research, according to a survey by HSBC.

The survey, which polled around 10,000 affluent and high-net-worth individuals across 10 markets, found that 62% use financial professionals and institutions as their main source of investment ideas.

About 37% of respondents said human financial experts had the greatest influence on their final investment decisions, three times as many as those who cited AI, according to HSBC.

Shares of Trip.com in Hong Kong fell more than 9% after the online travel service provider posted 41% decline in its first-quarter net income on Wednesday.

Net income for its first quarter of 2026 was 2.5 billion yuan ($367 million), compared with 4.3 billion yuan a year ago, partly weighed by share-based compensation charges.

"The Company is and has been the subject of investigations or inquiries by national authorities regarding competition law matters, consumer protection issues, and other areas," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Trip.com received a notice of investigation from China's State Administration for Market Regulation in January over alleged monopolistic practices.

The company warned that the investigation findings could result in a significant fine or other financial penalties, which could lead to changes to business practice and affect its financial position.

Shares last traded at 9.56% lower at 319.80 Hong Kong dollars.

The Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba fell by over 4% after Anthropic accused the Chinese tech company of attempting to extract its artificial intelligence capabilities.

Anthropic sent a letter to U.S. officials accusing Alibaba of "brazenly" and "illicitly" trying to extract its AI capabilities, claiming that the company carried out "the largest known distillation attack on Anthropic to date."

"We believe combating the threat of illicit distillation requires coordinated action between government and industry, and we will continue working with Congress and the Administration to maintain American AI leadership," an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement.

Distillation is an AI training method in which a small, less capable model is built from the outputs of an existing, stronger model.

Shares of Alibaba last traded 4.78% lower at 94.65 Hong Kong dollars.

Oil prices erased wartime gains on Thursday as investors bet global crude supplies would improve after tankers that had been stranded in the Persian Gulf for months began leaving the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. crude for August delivery dropped 1.66% to around $69 a barrel and Brent declined 1.79% to under $73 a barrel, hovering at levels seen before the Middle East war broke out in late February.

More than 20 oil tankers carrying about 35 million barrels of crude have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Iran reached an agreement to reopen the key shipping route, according to trade-tracking firm Kpler.Â

The non-Iranian vessels had been stranded in the Persian Gulf for more than three months after Tehran effectively shut the waterway early in the conflict. Most are expected to arrive at destinations in Asia by early August.Â

Shares of South Korean chip giant SK Hynix surged 11% on Thursday after the company said it plans to raise as much as $29.4 billion in a U.S. stock market listing.

The company plans to issue 17.79 million new shares in the form of American depositary receipts through a Nasdaq listing, according to a regulatory filing. The offer could raise 45.45 trillion won ($29.65 billion).

Trading is expected to begin July 10, although the company said the timetable remains subject to change.

SK Hynix said the ADR listing would broaden its investor base and allow "its true corporate value to be properly evaluated." Â

"We expect to elevate our status as a global company by broadening our touchpoints in the United States, the epicenter of AI technological innovation," the company said.

Asia-Pacific markets traded broadly higher early Thursday. South Korea's Kospi led gains with an advance of more than 5% near the open, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.32%.

Shares of SK Hynix rose more than 10%, and Samsung gained about 5%. South Korea triggered the Sidecar market-stabilization mechanism due to the moves.

Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1.28% while the Topix rose 0.76%.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was marginally lower.

Asia-Pacific markets were set to open mixed on Thursday, as investors keep an eye on an upcoming key U.S. inflation reading for May, while recovering from a tech rout earlier in the week.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was poised to rise, with the Chicago futures contract at 71,480 and its Osaka counterpart last trading at 71,060, compared with the index's previous close of 69,174.97.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures were at 23,322, lower than the index's last close of 23,412.18.

In Australia, futures last traded at 8,810, while the S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,808.40.

Tensions in the Middle East continue to ease amid reports that at least 20 oil tankers stranded with 35 million barrels have exited the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran and the U.S. agreed to open the waterway, according to data from Kpler.

"Iran will not have the ability to close the Strait of Hormuz going forward," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at a New York conference.

Six of the 11 GICS sectors rose on Wednesday to end the session higher.

Gains were led by industrials stocks, which rose 1.18%. This performance was followed by names in the utilities, consumer discretionary and healthcare cohorts, which respectively added 1.05%, 0.80% and 0.79%.

On the other hand, energy stocks fared the worst on Wednesday, shedding 1.73%. Investors also continued to sell information technology stocks, sending the sector down 0.64% and making it the session's second-worst performer.

Chip stocks jumped in Wednesday's after-hours session, lifted by Micron.

Shares of Micron surged almost 15% after the chipmaker reported a fiscal third-quarter beat on both the top and bottom lines.

In its last quarter, Micron earned an adjusted $25.11 per share on $41.46 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG were expecting earnings of $20.78 on revenue of $35.84 billion.

The company also guided for current-quarter revenue of $50 billion, up from $11.3 billion a year earlier and above the $43.58 billion forecast. Meanwhile, cloud memory revenue was up over 300% to $13.77 billion.

Fellow semiconductor stock Qualcomm also gained 14% after raising some of its prior targets for its full year 2029.

Other chip names, such as Sandisk, Western Digital, Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials rose in sympathy with Qualcomm's upgrade and Micron's latest earnings report.

Shortly after 6 p.m. ET, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures respectively climbed 0.7% and 1.9%. Dow futures gained 102 points, or 0.2%.