Wall Street Futures Rise as Micron Tops $1 Trillion, PCE Looms

U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday as investors continued to favor companies tied to artificial intelligence and ahead of Thursday’s personal consumption expenditures inflation report. S&P 500 futures were up 0.15%, Dow futures added about 119 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.23% after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs in the prior session.

Micron Technology led premarket gains, climbing 4.6% and pushing its market value above $1 trillion for the first time. Other memory and data-center suppliers were higher before the open: SanDisk, Western Digital and Seagate Technology each rose more than 1.3%, reflecting increased demand for chips, memory and data-center equipment linked to AI workloads.

Technology and growth stocks tied to AI infrastructure continued to drive sentiment, lifting chipmakers and storage companies in early trading. Analysts expect roughly 29% year-over-year growth in first-quarter corporate earnings, and Goldman Sachs raised its year-end 2026 S&P 500 target to 8,000 from 7,600, citing continued profit growth.

Geopolitical developments influenced market views. Optimism about a possible U.S.-Iran diplomatic outcome eased some risk premia, while renewed tensions near the Strait of Hormuz kept energy and inflation risks in focus. Any escalation that threatens shipping lanes or oil flows could push energy prices higher and affect the economic and monetary policy outlook.

Attention turned to the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures index, due Thursday. Money-market pricing currently implies the Fed will hold interest rates for the remainder of the year, but a small chance remains for a 25-basis-point increase in December.

Individual stock moves added volatility in premarket trading. Cybersecurity firm Zscaler fell about 21.5% after forecasting fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations. GlobalFoundries slipped roughly 6.6% after reports that an investor was seeking to raise about $1.9 billion by selling a 3.5% stake in the chipmaker through an unregistered block trade.

Market participants continued to monitor upcoming economic data and corporate reports for signals on earnings trends and inflation as they set positions ahead of the next earnings and economic-data calendar.