(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday, as risk-taking recovered following a sharp selloff on Wall Street in the previous week, while investors awaited pivotal results from chip giant Nvidia and a key inflation report.
At 5:35 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 309 points, or 0.71%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 31.5 points, or 0.52% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 90 points, or 0.42%.
The CBOE volatility index dipped 0.54 points to 17.68 after closing at its highest level since February 3.
Wall Street's major gauges registered weekly losses on Friday, with the benchmark S&P 500 and a smallcaps index also suffering their largest daily percentage losses in 2025.
A batch of weak economic data on the back of Walmart's disappointing guidance sparked expectations among market participants that the world's largest economy was stalling.
On Monday, heavy-weight megacaps led the rebound in premarket trading, with Alphabet and Meta adding about 0.5% each. Chip stocks such as Nvidia rose 0.7% and Micron gained 1%.
Semiconductor stocks will be in the spotlight this week, with Nvidia's quarterly results expected on Wednesday.
The artificial intelligence bellwether's forecast is likely to set the tone on Wall Street at a time when investors have started noticing cheaper Chinese rivals and are beginning to question the U.S. industry's dominance.
Nvidia options imply a 7.7% swing for its shares in either direction following the results, in line with the stock's average move of 7.6% on the day after results over the last 12 quarters, according to data from options analytics service ORATS.
"Despite the emergence of large language models which are cheaper to run, other signs, including huge infrastructure investment plans from tech giants like Meta, indicate that Nvidia's high-end chips will remain in demand," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
On the data front, the Personal Consumption Expenditure index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge - expected on Friday could help markets gauge the timing of the central bank's first rate cut this year.
Interest rate futures indicate the Fed will leave borrowing costs unchanged for the first half of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Following Friday's soft data, markets will also be keen on the Conference Board's report on consumer sentiment and the second estimate on quarterly gross domestic product, due later in the week. Remarks from at least nine Fed policymakers will also be parsed.
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Among other movers, Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares rose 1.4% after the Warren Buffett-owned conglomerate reported a record annual profit over the weekend.
Nike added 2% after Jefferies raised its rating on the athletic apparel maker to "buy" from "hold", while Domino's Pizza edged up 0.4% ahead of quarterly results.
Markets are also on edge for any tariff comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, with his one-month reprieve on Mexican and Canadian tariffs nearing its end.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
