[US Pre-Market] Three Major Index Futures Extend Gains, AI Chip Rally Continues to Build. Micron Rises More Than 8% Pre-Market

TradingKey - U.S. stock index futures rose across the board in pre-market trading Wednesday ET as the market extended a strong rally led by AI chip stocks. Investors are betting that U.S.-Iran negotiations could mitigate geopolitical risks, while falling oil prices and lower Treasury yields also bolstered sentiment for risk assets. As of press time, Dow futures were up 0.1%, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.67%, and S&P 500 futures rose 0.23%.

In the previous session, U.S. tech stocks continued to lead the way, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting new all-time highs as chip stocks remained the central market theme. Micron Technology surged 19.3%, driving a broad advance in semiconductors, memory chips, and AI infrastructure-related stocks. Meanwhile, a sharp retreat in oil prices eased fears of an inflation rebound, and the 10-year Treasury yield fell to approximately 4.48%, providing a lift for growth stock valuations.

Micron Technology stock price chart, Source: FUTUBULL

Market Volatility

Semiconductor stocks continued their pre-market strength. Micron Technology ( MU) rose over 8% pre-market as the market continues to trade on high-bandwidth memory demand driven by AI servers. Previously, Micron's market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, serving as an important signal of the current AI rally rotating from GPUs to memory, packaging, and equipment.

Marvell Technology ( MRVL) rose about 6% pre-market. As a key supplier of AI data center and optical communication chips, Marvell attracted investor interest ahead of its earnings release. Barron's reported that Wall Street expects Marvell's revenue for this quarter to be approximately $2.4 billion, higher than the $1.9 billion in the same period last year, and about 75% of the company's revenue comes from its data center business.

Zscaler ( ZS) plummeted over 20% pre-market. Although the company's latest quarterly results beat expectations, weak fourth-quarter guidance sparked market concerns. The company's adjusted earnings per share for the third fiscal quarter were $1.08, exceeding the market expectation of $1.01; revenue grew 25% year-over-year to $850.5 million, also beating expectations. However, revenue guidance for the fourth fiscal quarter was slightly below the market consensus, leading to a heavy sell-off by investors.

Pinduoduo ( PDD) fell over 7% pre-market. The company's first-quarter revenue was 106.23 billion RMB, lower than the market expectation of 109.33 billion RMB; net income attributable to the parent company was 12.5 billion RMB, down 15% year-over-year. Market concerns regarding weak domestic consumer demand, intensifying competition with JD.com and Alibaba, and rising overseas regulatory and fulfillment costs for Temu are putting pressure on profit margins.

In terms of commodities, WTI crude oil futures fell 3.06%, Brent crude oil futures fell 2.05%, and spot gold ( XAUUSD) fell 1.59%, while Bitcoin fell approximately 0.1% to around $75,800.

Market Headlines

Goldman Sachs has raised its year-end 2026 S&P 500 target to 8,000 from 7,600, citing continued strength in corporate earnings.

TSMC's 3nm foundry prices are expected to rise by 15% in the second half of the year, with further hikes likely next year. Supply chain sources indicate that TSMC will raise 3nm quotes again in the second half, with increases of up to 15%, and potentially another 5% to 10% next year. Industry insiders noted that with the simultaneous surge in demand for AI accelerators, custom ASICs, flagship smartphone chips, and high-performance computing (HPC), 3nm capacity remains fully utilized, making advanced nodes the core strategic resource in global semiconductor competition.

Iran stated that it has not yet reached an agreement with the U.S. regarding the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iranian media reports on the 27th, Ali Bagheri, Deputy Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, stated that Iran and the U.S. have not reached a consensus on issues related to the Strait of Hormuz. Bagheri said that Iran and Oman are currently consulting on a new mechanism for vessel transit through the strait, and indirect contacts between Iran and the U.S. are ongoing. He also noted that the issue of uranium enrichment is not currently on the agenda of Iran-U.S. negotiations.

Key Data and Events Preview

Today's earnings spotlight is on PDD, Salesforce, Snowflake, HP, Synopsys, and Marvell.

A key event to monitor is Meta's 2026 Annual Shareholder Meeting.

The macro focus this week shifts to the U.S. PCE price index to be released on Thursday. If inflation data is stronger than expected, it could drive up Treasury yields once more and weigh on high-valuation tech stocks; if the data is mild, it will likely continue to reinforce the 'strong earnings, stable rates' trading logic for risk assets.