Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures steadied on Thursday evening after gains in technology stocks, following bumper earnings from TSMC, helped Wall Street snap a two-day losing streak.
Positive earnings from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs also lent support, although overall gains on Wall Street were still held back by concerns over heightened geopolitical tensions in Iran.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.1% to 6,988.50 points by 18:35 ET (23:35 GMT). Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.1% to 25,727.0 points, while Dow Jones Futures rose slightly to 49,670.0 points.
Tech, chipmakers rise after TSMC's bumper Q4
Chipmaking stocks were the biggest boost to Wall Street on Thursday, after chipmaker TSMC (NYSE:TSM) clocked a record-high fourth-quarter profit and signaled that artificial intelligence-fueled demand remained strong.
The company is the world's largest contract chipmaker and is considered a bellwether for the industry. TSMC's U.S.-listed shares rallied 4.4%.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), a major customer of TSMC, rose 2.2% after its earnings, while rival AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) added 1.9%. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said that TSMC's customers, and their customers, remained keen on acquiring more chips amid a broader AI infrastructure buildout.
He also flagged a sharp increase in capital spending in 2026 as the chipmaker ramps up production to meet outsized demand.
Gains in chips spilled over into broader tech stocks, albeit moderately. The sector faced some profit-taking earlier this week after rising sharply through early January.
Wall St breaks 2-day losing streak, bank stocks gain
Wall Street indexes snapped a two-day losing streak on Thursday, aided in part by tech and some positive earnings from the bank sector.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) surged 4.6% and 5.8%, respectively, after logging strong December quarter earnings. The prints also helped markets look past some middling bank earnings from earlier this week.
The bank earnings signaled the start of the fourth quarter earnings season in earnest, with a string of major companies set to report in the coming week. Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) are due to report on Tuesday, while Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) will report on Wednesday.
Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ:ISRG) and many more will report later in the week.
The S&P 500 rose nearly 0.3% on Thursday, while the NASDAQ Composite added 0.25%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed, rising 0.6% on gains in banks.
All three indexes were nursing two days of losses as heightened geopolitical tensions, especially between the U.S. and Iran, rattled markets.