Stock futures are pointing to a strong open Wednesday as the semiconductor sector powers higher ahead of what could be a pivotal week for AI chipmakers. S&P 500 futures are up 0.7%, Nasdaq-100 futures are leading with a 1.1% gain, and Dow futures are adding 180 points.
The catalyst is AMD. The chipmaker unveiled its new XPU architecture at an investor event Tuesday evening, positioning the design as a direct competitor to Nvidia Blackwell architecture in the hyperscale data center market. Early benchmarks shared by AMD show the XPU delivering up to 85% of Nvidia H100 inference performance at roughly 60% of the cost per chip. Wall Street is treating this as validation that the AI chip market is big enough for multiple winners — and is repricing AMD accordingly.
Nvidia is not getting left behind. The stock is up 2.3% in pre-market action as traders position ahead of the company earnings report expected within the next two weeks. Options flow suggests bullish positioning: NVDA call volume is running 2.5x put volume this morning, with heavy concentration in the 50 and ,000 strike expirations for June 5.
Broader market context supports the mood. The 10-year Treasury yield is holding steady at 4.32%, a level that has proven benign for equity valuations. Oil is flat around 6 a barrel. The VIX is hovering near 16, suggesting complacency ahead of the Nvidia catalyst.
The economic calendar is light today. The only notable release is April existing home sales at 10:00 AM ET. Consensus expects a 4.15 million annualized pace, down slightly from 4.19 million in March. Mortgage rates above 7% continue to suppress activity, but the market will shrug that off if chips are ripping.
