Wall St futures turn lower on caution over Nvidia earnings, Sept payrolls

Wall Street futures reversed initial gains and turned negative in Asian trade on Tuesday, amid growing caution ahead of key earnings from Nvidia and a long-awaited labor market reading for September.

Futures had initially taken some encouragement from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller calling for more interest rate cuts to boost the labor market.

But this was short-lived as investors remained largely negative towards technology shares, while broader market expectations remained pinned towards a December rate hold.

S&P 500 Futures fell 0.6% to 6,650.75 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures sank 0.8% to 24,672.75 points by 23:30 ET (04:30 GMT). Dow Jones Futures fell 0.4% to 46,460.0 points.

Wall St sinks on caution over Nvidia, AI trade 

Wall Street indexes ended sharply lower on Monday, as investors continued to dump large technology shares ahead of quarterly earnings from NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), due Wednesday.

Nvidia fell nearly 1.9% on Monday, extending recent losses as investors locked in outsized profits in the stock. The company is at the heart of a massive AI-fueled valuation surge over the past three years, with questions over this ascent having emerged in recent months.

Broader tech shares also fell amid growing doubts over the long-term prospects of AI, and the potential returns from the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in the industry.

Palantir Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:PLTR) fell 1.6%, extending its losses to nearly 10% over the past five days. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was an exception, rising 3.1% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a $4.3 billion position in the firm.

Alphabet was also boosted by anticipation of Google’s upcoming Gemini 3.0 AI model, with Polymarket bets showing markets expect a release on Tuesday.

Still, losses in tech weighed on Wall Street, while other, cyclical sectors also retreated on caution over the U.S. economy. A spike in bond yields across the developed world spurred concerns over stretched fiscal spending in the sector.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9% to 6,672.50 points, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.8% to 22,708.08 points on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% to 46,590.49 points.

Beyond Nvidia, earnings from major retailers, including Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), are due this week.

Nonfarm payrolls for Sept awaited as rate cut bets wane 

Focus this week is also squarely on the release of key U.S. economic readings that were delayed by a prolonged government shutdown in October.

Nonfarm payrolls data for September is due on Thursday, and will be closely watched for more insight into the labor market, which is a key consideration for the Fed. Governor Waller said on Monday that the central bank should cut interest rates to prevent further deterioration in the sector.

But Waller’s comments, and the payrolls data, come amid waning bets that the Fed will cut interest rates in December. Said bets came as the delay of several key labor and inflation readings for October pointed to the Fed flying blind into its December meeting, making a hold more likely.