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Briefing.com Summary:
*There is some early buy-the-dip interest following yesterday's losses.
*NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang sounds an optimistic note about AI buildout growth prospects.
*The FOMC Minutes for the Sept. 16-17 meeting to be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The major indices finished lower yesterday, and that may just be enough to explain why there isn't a lot of selling conviction this morning. When there is a dip, buyers step up. That has been the playbook time and again since the April low.
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up nine points and are trading 0.1% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 27 points and are trading 0.1% above fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 122 points and are trading 0.2% above fair value.
There isn't any compelling corporate news to account for the positive disposition, but it is compelling enough for some to see NVIDIA (NVDA) trade 0.9% higher, with CEO Jensen Huang having talked up the tremendous growth prospects for the AI buildout in a CNBC interview.
Notably, he made a case for why this isn't like the dot-com bubble days, pointing to the exponential size of the AI market versus the dot-com market and the financial strength of AI's leading companies.
It is a bit surprising that the AI trade hasn't kicked in with more vigor this morning, yet there is fair-minded skepticism in the market about valuation levels and short-term overbought positions that make it more daunting to chase performance at this time.
Then again, there is the countervailing view that the market has the makings of a melt-up trade into year-end. For now, it is sitting fairly tight to see if the pre-open trade has a backbone or will be upended by a bid to sell into strength.
The latter, in light of yesterday's rollover, would be a cautionary signal that consolidation forces are taking root in front of the start of the Q3 earnings reporting period. Still, this is nothing that should be considered out of the ordinary, other than it being a temporary deviation from the successful buy-the-dip action.
Separately, there has been no dip in gold prices. They are up again this morning ($4,055.40, +51.00, +1.3%), running further into record-high territory with the momentum factor in play.
There isn't any economic data of note today, but participants will be keeping an eye on the results of the $39 billion 10-yr note auction at 1:00 p.m. ET and the release of the FOMC Minutes for the September 16-17 meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.
