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Investing.com — U.S. stock index futures were little moved in Sunday night trading, but AI darlings remained largely unchanged while caution ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting discouraged large trades. Nvidia Inc. 's annual developer conference was also in the spotlight.
For the past two weeks, Wall Street indexes have been on guard against a fall from their record highs, even as the rally in large-cap tech stocks fueled by hype around artificial intelligence appears to be easing. A series of better-than-expected inflation data also fueled concerns that the Fed could signal a rise in long-term interest rates.
By 19:04 ET (23:04 GMT), it rose 0.05% to 5,185.50 points and rose 0.1% to 18,071.0 points. It fell 0.1% to 39,126.0 points.
Fed focuses on expectations of rising inflation rate
Market attention is now squarely focused on Wednesday's two-day conclusion. The central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold, but any signals about plans to cut rates will be closely watched.
Concerns were growing that the central bank would send more hawkish signals at this week's meeting after last week's better-than-expected inflation data.
Fed officials have also reiterated that the potential for rate cuts depends primarily on the trajectory of inflation, which has so far remained tenacious and above the Fed's annual target of 2%.
Concerns about the Federal Reserve weighed on Wall Street indexes slightly last week.
It fell 0.7% on Friday to 5,117.09 points and fell 1% to 15,973.17 points. It closed 0.5% lower at 38,714.77 points.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average posted minimal losses for the week, while the Nasdaq fell 0.7% on heavy profit-taking in tech stocks.
More AI clues await at Nvidia conference
But before the Fed meeting, this week's focus will be on NVIDIA Corporation's (NASDAQ:) GTC conference in San Jose, California. The event is Nvidia's first annual developer conference to be held in person since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company has been at the center of an AI-driven market rise over the past year and is widely expected to unveil a new flagship chip focused on AI development. CEO Jensen Huang will give a keynote speech later Monday to unveil Nvidia's next-generation AI chip, which analysts say is called the B100.
Nvidia's valuation rose sharply through 2023, making it the third most valuable company on Wall Street for its AI efforts so far in 2024, behind Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:). Ta.
Although the rally has subsided somewhat over the past week, the GTC conference could be pivotal in generating new profits not just for Nvidia but for the broader technology sector.
