Gold prices just lower; monthly gains on track
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures tick up ahead of the final trading day of the week. President Donald Trump names a close adviser as his pick to be a temporary Federal Reserve governor. Elsewhere, contract chipmaker TSMC’s sales spike in July, while artificial intelligence investments spur shares in Japan’s SoftBank (TYO:9984) to an all-time high.
1. Futures rise
U.S. stock futures pointed higher on Friday, as investors digested Trump’s new selection to temporarily fill a vacancy on the Fed’s Board of Governors and assessed an ebbing stream of corporate earnings.
By 02:56 ET (06:56 GMT), the Dow futures contract had risen by 57 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 futures rose by 11 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced by 43 points, or 0.2%.
The main averages on Wall Street ended in mixed fashion on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow slipping and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edging up following a choppy session.
Traders were pouring over muddled economic data. Fresh "ominous" signs for the labor market and an uptick in a gauge of inflation expectations were offset partially by healthy second-quarter productivity, analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note.
Debate also swirls around the trajectory of U.S. interest rates. While several Fed officials this week have signaled a willingness to cut borrowing costs at the central bank’s next meeting in September, one member -- Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic -- cautioned that there may only room for just the one reduction this year.
2. Trump nominates new Fed governor
Against this backdrop, Trump announced on Thursday that his top economic adviser, Stephen Miran, will be his pick to take an empty governor seat at the Fed.
If confirmed by Senate lawmakers, Miran would have the ability to vote on upcoming interest rate decisions. Notably, Miran has been a consistent supporter of Trump, who has himself been deeply critical of a decision by the Fed and its Chair Jerome Powell not to quickly ratchet down rates.
Miran, who previously served in the Treasury Department during Trump’s first term and also worked as a senior strategist at a hedge fund, has particularly argued that sweeping U.S. tariffs will not massively drive up inflation domestically and the costs of the levies will instead fall mostly on overseas suppliers. Some economists have disputed the theory, however.
The nomination comes after Adriana Kugler abruptly stepped down from the role as a Fed governor last week, prior to her term’s expiration date in January. Trump has said Miran will serve in the role temporarily, but hinted that it could be extended.
"We will continue to search for a permanent replacement," Trump said in a social media post. Crucially, that person could be the one who eventually replaces Powell after his term at the head of the Fed ends next year.
3. TSMC July sales
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TW:2330) (TSMC) on Friday announced a 26% increase in its sales in July, indicating that artificial intelligence-fueled demand for its advanced chips remained sound.
TSMC said its sales last month rose 25.8% versus a year ago to T$323.17 billion ($10.8 billion). Sales also grew 22.5% from June.
The chipmaker, which is a key supplier to major AI processor developers such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), has delivered stellar sales growth so far in 2025, which it has attributed largely to AI.
Its sales for the first seven months of 2025 are up nearly 38% from the same period last year.
TSMC’s shares hit a record high on Thursday after Taipei said the company will be exempt from a potential 100% tariff on chip exports to the United States announced by Trump earlier this week.
4. SoftBank Group shares hit record high
SoftBank Group Corp. shares hit a record high in Tokyo trade on Friday, after the technology conglomerate logged stellar quarterly earnings on a sharp run-up in its AI-linked investments.
The stock rallied over 13% to a record high of 14,230.0 yen, also driving an over 2% jump in Japan’s Nikkei 225 index.
SoftBank reported stronger-than-expected net profit of 421.8 billion yen ($2.87 billion) for its quarter ended in June, as it benefited from heightened market optimism over AI, which in turn pushed up the value of its investments.
The Japanese tech conglomerate has stakes in a slew of public and private AI-related companies, including Nvidia. The company has been bolstered by a sizeable gain in the valuation of its shares the semiconductor giant. It is also a majority owner of British chip designer Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM).
5. OpenAI launches GPT-5
OpenAI has unveiled its latest GPT-5 AI model, a new iteration of the technology powering the group’s mega-popular ChatGPT.
The chatbot has become a focal point of the multi-year -- and ongoing -- boom in enthusiasm around the applications of AI, and helped turn OpenAI into one of the world’s most valuable private companies.
Media reports suggest that talks are underway to allow OpenAI’s employees to sell their shares at a possible $500 billion valuation, well above its current valuation of $300 billion.
Thursday’s release comes as a slew of big-name tech companies, including Facebook-owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), software titan Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), are all pursuing heavy investments in building out their AI capabilities, particularly through data center development.