Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Rise Ahead Of Delayed Jobs Data: Why NVDA, WBD, HOOD, MRNA, ASTS Are On Traders' Radar Today

Retail chatter on Stocktwits shows that sentiment remains deeply bearish on SPY and QQQ.

• Investors gear up for crucial jobs data and a slew of earnings reports from the likes of Shopify, QuantumScape, and Cisco, among others, today.
• At 8:30 a.m. ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the delayed January Non-Farm Payrolls report. 
• In a setback for Nvidia, Chinese tech giant ByteDance is reportedly developing an artificial intelligence chip and is in talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture it.
  

U.S. stock futures were higher early Wednesday as investors gear up for the delayed January jobs report due later today and digested a slew of earnings reports.

As of 3:10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.1%, and Russell 2000 futures were higher by 0.2%.  

Meanwhile, retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, has remained ‘bearish’, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, has fallen to ‘extremely bearish’ from ‘bearish’ a day ago amid high message volumes. 

Trending Stocks To Watch

Nvidia (NVDA): In a setback for Nvidia, Chinese tech giant ByteDance is reportedly developing an artificial intelligence chip and is in talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture it.

Warner Bros. Discovery deal (WBD, NFLX, PSKY): Activist investor Ancora Holdings has built a nearly $200 million stake in the media conglomerate and is reportedly planning to nudge it toward Paramount Skydance’s acquisition offer and not Netflix.

Moderna (MRNA): Faces headwinds after receiving a "Refusal-to-File" letter from the FDA regarding its investigational seasonal flu vaccine, mRNA-1010.

Robinhood (HOOD): Shares fell in overnight trade as a miss in cryptocurrency revenue overshadowed record options and equities trading volumes.

AST SpaceMobile (ASTS): A bright spot in the pre-market, the company successfully unfolded its BlueBird 6 satellite. It was also named as one of the three largest additions to the MSCI World Index.

Ford Motor (F): In the spotlight after it reported a steady 2026 profit forecast, though the automaker notably fell behind China’s BYD in global sales for the first time.

And watch out for Idea Acquisition Corp (IACOU), a new AI-focused SPAC, which begins trading on the Nasdaq today.

Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing included Mattel (MAT), Astera Labs (ALAB), Roblox (RBLX), and Carvana (CVNA), among others. 

Other Catalysts To Watch

On the economic front, the 8:30 am ET Jobs Report is the primary focus. Investors will also be watching for commentary from Kansas City Fed President Schmid’s speech at 10:10 am ET.

On the earnings radar, investors will also be watching for the quarterly reports from Shopify (SHOP), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Unity Software (U), Cisco (CSCO), QuantumScape (QS), and MGM Resorts, among others.

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