U.S. stock index futures gained on Thursday on news that the Trump administration was on the cusp of a trade agreement with Britain, while chip stocks advanced on the prospect of fewer export curbs on AI semiconductors.

Market Snapshot

At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 304 points, or 0.74%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 49.75 points, or 0.88%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 237.75 points, or 1.19%.

Pre-Market Movers

Arm Holdings, the U.K. semiconductor and software design company, reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue but issued a disappointing outlook for the current first quarter. Arm said it anticipated revenue of $1.05 billion at the midpoint of its forecast range, below Wall Street estimates of $1.1 billion. The company also said it expects adjusted earnings of 30 cents to 38 cents a share in the first quarter, below expectations of 42 cents. U.S.-listed shares of Arm declined 8.5%.

Nvidia jumped 1.4% in premarket trading and other chip stocks were rallying after the Commerce Department said it doesn't intend to implement artificial-intelligence processor restrictions drawn up under the Biden administration that were set to go into effect on May 15. The Commerce Department plans to replace the rule, which imposed caps on how many chips could go to countries such as India, Switzerland, Mexico, and Israel, a spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal.

AppLovin jumped 13% in premarket trading after the digital advertising company posted first-quarter earnings of $1.67 a share, beating Wall Street estimates of $1.44, as revenue rose 40% from a year earlier to $1.48 billion and topped expectations. The company also said it reached an agreement to sell its mobile gaming business.

Alphabet was up 2% in premarket trading after shares of the parent company of Google closed Wednesday at $151.38, down 7.26%, the stock's largest percentage daily decrease since earlier February when it tumbled 7.3%. A Bloomberg report said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, expected artificial-intelligence search providers would one day take market share away from traditional search engines like Google. Alphabet denied AI was eating into its market.

Fortinet declined 9.6% after the cybersecurity company reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street estimates but issued a revenue forecast for the second quarter that came up slightly short of expectations.

D-Wave Quantum Inc. shares surged 20% in pre-market trading on Thursday, following the release of its impressive first-quarter earnings report. The quantum computing company significantly outperformed analysts' expectations, demonstrating strong growth and improved financial performance.

First-quarter earnings and revenue at used-car dealer Carvana rose from a year earlier and the stock gained 5.4%. Revenue rose 38% to $4.23 billion and beat expectations of $4 billion. Carvana sold 133,898 retail units in the quarter, up 46%, and expects a sequential increase in retail units sold.

IonQ, the quantum computing hardware and software company, reported a first-quarter loss that narrowed from a year earlier as revenue of $7.6 million was flat with the previous year but beat expectations of $7.5 million. Shares rose 7.1%.

Zillow was down 3% as the real estate marketplace company, best known for its home listings portal, reported its first quarterly net profit since 2022 and topped analysts' expectations but issued softer-than-expected second-quarter guidance.

Cleveland-Cliffs was falling 7.9% after the steelmaker posted a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss and lower revenue, and said it was fully or partially idling six facilities to "optimize its footprint, reposition away from loss-making operations, and release excess working capital."

Axon Enterprise rose 6.3% after the Taser maker boosted its full-year revenue outlook after posting first-quarter revenue of $603.6 million that topped analysts' estimates.

Shopify was down 8% after the e-commerce company posted a wider quarterly loss and operating income that was well below analysts' estimates.

Market News

EU to Target US Cars, Planes, Bourbon If Trump Won’t Do a Deal

The European Union is planning to hit €95 billion ($108 billion) of US exports with additional tariffs if ongoing trade talks with President Donald Trump’s team fail to yield a satisfactory result.

The proposed retaliatory measures would especially target industrial goods including Boeing Co. aircraft, US-made cars and bourbon, which was initially removed from a previous list. The new proposal will be the subject of consultations with member states and other stakeholders through June 10 and could change before it’s finalized.

BOE Cuts Rates to 4.25% in Three-Way Split as Tariffs Hit Growth

The Bank of England cut interest rates by a quarter point to 4.25% as Donald Trump’s global trade war weighs on UK growth, in a decision that split senior officials into three groups and was made before the US President hinted at an imminent deal to lower tariffs on British exports.

Five members of the BOE’s Monetary Policy Committee voted for a quarter-point cut, while two wanted a larger half-point reduction. Another two voted to hold rates. The committee held its guidance that easing should continue to be “gradual and careful” in light of volatility in the global economy caused by Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Trump Says Thursday Should Be "Very Big" Day For US, UK

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Thursday would be "a very big and exciting day" for the United States and Britain, amid expectations that the two countries would sign a trade deal.

Trump said on Wednesday there would be a news conference "with representatives of a big, and highly respected, country" at 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT) on Thursday about a major trade deal.