Why Are Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Slipping Premarket? NVDA, MU, MRVL, IREN, PYPL, RKLB Stocks In Focus

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits improved to ‘bullish’ on SPY and ‘neutral’ on QQQ.

• Wall Street took a breather after Nvidia’s blockbuster earnings-fueled rally.
• Investors shift attention from AI earnings to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first Jackson Hole speech at 10 a.m. ET. 
• PYPL tanks premarket on reports that an Advent International and Stripe consortium abandoned its pursuit of the payments company.

U.S. stock futures were mixed early Friday as investors digested Nvidia’s blockbuster earnings-fueled rally and looked ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s high-stakes speech at Jackson Hole at 10:00 am ET. Traders will watch closely for hints about the Fed's policy stance ahead of the September FOMC meeting, along with broader macro signals. 

As of 4:30 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures fell 0.3%, S&P 500 futures were flat with a negative bias, while Dow and Russell 2000 futures rose 0.1%. 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, has improved to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ a day ago, and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, has moved to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish.’

The AI Trade Faces Next Test

Nvidia (NVDA): Shares are seeing some pressure in early premarket trading after earnings booster added roughly $453 billion in market cap in a single day on Thursday. Separately, reports indicate Nvidia recently paused its GPU revenue-sharing partnership model over potential antitrust concerns. 

Micron Technology (MU), SanDisk (SNDK) and SK Hynix (SKHY): Memory players remain in focus following Trump’s praise of Micron’s new $10 billion U.S. research lab commitment. Meanwhile, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora has cautioned that the memory supercycle will eventually turn cyclical.

Marvell Technology (MRVL): Shares fell 8% in early premarket trade despite raising its multi-year revenue outlook, as investors focused on Q3 gross margin compression.

IREN: Shares fell 6% in early premarket trade after Q4 earnings missed expectations. The former bitcoin miner turned AI-infrastructure operator highlighted its rapidly expanding AI Cloud business and roughly $4 billion in contracted 2026 ARR. 

Trending Stocks

PayPal (PYPL): Down over 14% in early premarket trade following reports that a private equity consortium comprising Advent International and Stripe abandoned takeover talks over valuation disagreements.

Affirm Holdings (AFRM): Shares rose 12% in early premarket trade on strong Q4 earnings. The buy-now-pay-later company raised forward guidance, with CEO Max Levchin citing significant remaining “greenfield” opportunity.

Take-Two Interactive (TTWO): Shares rose 2% in early premarket trade after Rockstar Games released an extended look at Grand Theft Auto VI, reviving retail enthusiasm as it eased anxiety surrounding recent gameplay leaks.

Rocket Lab (RKLB): Facing pressure toward a third consecutive weekly drop after SpaceX raised regulatory objections with the FCC regarding Rocket Lab’s proposed acquisition of Iridium.

Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing included Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA), McDonald’s (MCD), UiPath (PATH), and Nike (NKE).

What Else To Watch Friday

On the economic front, markets will look to the Fed Chair’s speech at Jackson Hole for clues about the longer-term rate outlook. Analysts expect Warsh to reaffirm the central bank’s inflation-fighting commitment. 

Earlier this week, July PCE inflation came in at 3.7% year over year, while core PCE was 3.3%. Several Fed officials at Jackson Hole have already warned that inflation may not be sufficiently contained and that policy may not be restrictive enough.

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