US stock futures rose Thursday as signs of continued solid demand for artificial-intelligence products allowed investors to look past escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
These stocks were poised to make moves Thursday:
TSMC rose 1.3% in premarket trading after third-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates. Revenue surged 30% from a year earlier to 989.92 billion New Taiwanese dollars, boosted by strong demand for its AI semiconductors, which it manufactures for chip makers like Nvidia.
AMD rose 0.6% following a 9.4% gain Wednesday to a record high of $238.60. The stock has risen nearly 98% in 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data. HSBC analyst Frank Lee raised his price target on AMD to $310 from $185 and reaffirmed his Buy rating, saying that the " OpenAI deal implies massive AI revenue upside potential, which is still underestimated by consensus," he wrote.
AMD rival Nvidia, the leading maker of artificial-intelligence chips, rose 1.1% after falling 0.1% in the previous session. Semiconductor peers Micron Technology and Broadcom also rose 2.8% and 1.6%, respectively.
NIO's U.S.-listed shares dropped 7.3%. Singapore's sovereign-wealth fund GIC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. seeking damages from the Chinese electric-vehicle maker, claiming it inflated the value of its securities, The Wall Street Journal reported. NIO didn't immediately respond to a Barron's request for comment.
Salesforce jumped 5.6% ahead of the opening bell after the software vendor announced financial targets for the coming five years. Salesforce told investors at the company's annual Dreamforce conference that it expects revenue of more than $60 billion in 2030. It also guided for an organic year-over-year revenue growth rate above 10% in 2026 through 2030.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise dropped 9.6% after surprising Wall Street with weaker-than-expected guidance for 2026. During an analyst meeting at the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the server and cloud company said it expects fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of between $2.20 and $2.40 a share, with revenue growing between 5% and 10%. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.43 a share with revenue growth of 17%.
Logistics company J.B. Hunt Transport Services soared 12.8% after reporting third-quarter profit comfortably above Wall Street's estimates. Earnings of $1.76 a share beat consensus estimates of $1.46.
United Airlines fell 1.5%. The carrier beat third-quarter adjusted earnings expectations and offered a better-than-expected outlook, but revenue of $15.2 billion, higher than last year, was slightly lower than analysts' calls for $15.3 billion.
Shares of investment bank Morgan Stanley rose 0.2% after finishing Wednesday with a gain of 4.7% to a record high of $162.65 following strong third-quarter earnings. A buoyant stock market and a surge in dealmaking lifted revenue at Morgan Stanley's investment bank and wealth management units.
Earnings reports are expected Thursday from Charles Schwab, Interactive Brokers, Bank of New York Mellon, U.S. Bancorp, Infosys, CSX, and Travelers.