US futures dip before Fed minutes; Nvidia falls ahead of Q4 earnings

Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures fell slightly on late-Tuesday as markets awaited more cues on monetary policy from the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s late-January meeting. 

Tech stocks remained on the backfoot, with chipmaking heavyweight NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) extending losses into aftermarket trade in anticipation of its fourth-quarter earnings, which are due after the market close on Wednesday. 

S&P 500 Futures fell slightly to 4,988.50 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.2% to 17,566.50 points by 19:03 ET (00:03 GMT). Dow Jones Futures fell marginally to 38,632.0 points. 

Nvidia spurs tech losses amid pre-earnings jitters 

Wall Street indexes had closed lower on Tuesday, weighed chiefly by Nvidia as traders collected some profits in the chipmaker before its fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday. 

Nvidia fell 1.4% in aftermarket trade after losing over 4% during the session. The company- which is at the heart of an artificial intelligence-led valuation spike over the past year, is expected to clock EPS of $4.58 on a revenue of $20.37 billion- both up substantially from the same period a year ago. 

But doubts over Nvidia’s outlook and stretched price-to-earnings ratio spurred some profit-taking in the chipmaker, which had raced to record highs in recent sessions. 

Losses in Nvidia spilled over into broader tech stocks, given that AI hype was a key driver of recent gains in the sector.

Losses in the chipmaker saw the NASDAQ Composite shed 0.9% on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 lost 0.6%. Losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average were comparatively lower, at 0.2%. 

All three indexes still remained within sight of record highs.

Fed minutes awaited for more rate cues 

Markets were now awaiting the minutes of the Fed’s late-January meeting, due later on Wednesday, for more cues on the path of interest rates.

While the central bank had kept rates on hold during the meeting, it had also warned that sticky inflation was likely to keep U.S. interest rates higher for longer in 2024.

Comments from a slew of Fed speakers, including Raphael Bostic and Michelle Bowman are also on tap later in the day. 

After-market movers: Teladoc, Palo Alto Networks sink on weak earnings

Among major after-market movers, Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) sank 19% after it lowered its guidance for the year. Peers CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) and Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ:ZS) also fell.

Teladoc Inc (NYSE:TDOC) slid 13% on disappointing first-quarter guidance, while SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) fell 15% on weak first-quarter revenue guidance.