Updates prices

By Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit

Oct 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures ticked higher on Wednesday, with Nvidia on track to become the first company to surpass $5 trillion in market value, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve's rate decision and results from Big Tech firms.

Shares of Nvidia NVDA.O rose 3.7% in premarket trading after CEO Jensen Huang announced $500 billion in AI chip orders and plans to build seven supercomputers for the U.S. government.

The stock has risen about 50% so far this year, and has been among the top boosts to U.S. equities in 2025. Apple AAPL.O briefly topped $4 trillion in market cap on Tuesday, while Microsoft MSFT.O trades above that level.

At 07:15 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 61 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 17.5 points, or 0.25%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 110.5 points, or 0.42%.

The three major indexes have hit a series of record highs in recent days, driven by optimism around artificial intelligence, positive earnings momentum and expectations of rate cuts from the U.S. central bank.

Alphabet GOOGL.O and Microsoft MSFT.O rose 0.3% each, while Meta META.O was marginally up. The companies are set to report their quarterly results after markets close and investors will closely scrutinize any AI-related updates to justify lofty valuations.

"The commentary provided by executives will critically frame how far and how confidently the market can chase the AI story into 2026," said Kate Leaman, chief market analyst at AvaTrade.

Caterpillar CAT.N shares rose 4.3% after beating third-quarter profit expectations.

With results in from 180 of the S&P 500 companies, third-quarter earnings are estimated to have increased 10.5% from the year-ago period, above earlier estimates for the quarter, according to data compiled by LSEG as of Tuesday.

FED OUTLOOK, TRADE DEALS EYED

The Fed is widely expected to trim rates by a quarter of a percentage point later in the day.

After nearly a month of a U.S. government shutdown that has kept key economic data under wraps, investors will hunt for clues on the Fed's rate path after leaning on private surveys and corporate announcements to fill the void.

Investors will also keep an eye on any plans to end the central bank's "quantitative tightening" policy - a long-running effort to shrink its balance sheet.

Traders expect another quarter-point cut in December.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump began the final leg of his Asia trip, saying he had reached a deal with South Korea and was optimistic about an agreement with China's Xi Jinping. Talks between the two counterparts are set for Thursday in the port city of Busan.

Among other stock moves, Centene Corporation CNC.N posted a surprise third-quarter profit, sending shares jumping 9.7%.

Seagate Technology STX.O shares rose 6.5% after the company forecast second-quarter earnings above Wall Street estimates.

Teradyne TER.O jumped 21.9% after forecasting fourth-quarter revenue above expectations and named a new chief financial officer.

Mondelez International MDLZ.O cut its annual profit forecast on Tuesday, sending the Cadbury maker's shares down 5.7%.

(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Krishna Chandra Eluri)

((pranav.kashyap@tr.com; +919886482111;))