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Investing.com - U.S. stock futures hover around the flatline, with commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and results from semiconductor group Micron in focus. Powell offers a noncommittal take on the trajectory for interest rates, as the outlook remains clouded by soft employment data and stubbornly elevated inflation. Micron’s current-quarter forecast tops estimates, driven by demand for its memory chips from artificial intelligence developers.
1. Futures muted
U.S. stock futures were subdued on Wednesday, as investors digested Powell’s statements and assessed the implications of earnings from chipmaker Micron.
At 06:42 ET, Dow Jones futures were broadly unchanged, S&P 500 futures climbed 9 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 64 points, or 0.3%.
The main averages on Wall Street dipped in the prior session, snapping a three-session streak of record high closes.
Shares in artificial intelligence-darling Nvidia slipped, weighing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite in particular. The stock retreated from an advance on Monday sparked by its announcement of a $100 billion investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
Meanwhile, Boeing shares gained after the planemaker unveiled an $8 billion order from Uzbekistan Airways.
2. Powell’s policy comments
But the main event on Tuesday revolved around Powell’s comments, which came just days after the Fed slashed interest rates by 25 basis points and signaled that more reductions could be coming.
Yet Powell remained noncommittal in his view of the trajectory of rates, stressing that the Fed must balance the simultaneous pressures of slowing employment and sticky inflation.
In theory, cutting rates can help spur investment and hiring, albeit at the risk of driving up prices.
Powell noted that there was no “risk-free” option for policymakers, although markets are placing some bets on potential rate drawdowns at the Fed’s last meetings of the year in October and December.
Still, signs are emerging that officials at the central bank will likely be engaged in fierce debate at these gatherings. Elsewhere on Tuesday, other Fed members delivered statements that defended both sides of the policy argument.
3. Micron outlook exceeds estimates
Shares of Micron moved higher in premarket U.S. trading after the memory chip manufacturer posted a fresh quarter of growth fueled by soaring demand from AI developers.
Micron’s latest returns were powered by a stronger-than-anticipated call for its DRAM and NAND offerings, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a post-earnings call.
In turn, Idaho-based Micron said it expects that current-quarter midpoint adjusted profit per share will stand at $3.75 on projected revenue of $12.5 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Analysts had been looking for a forecast of $3.10 in adjusted income per share and $11.91 billion in revenue.
Mehrotra said that supply is "tight," while the demand environment for DRAM -- or dynamic random access memory -- processors should be "healthy" next year.
To bolster supplies, Micron has said it plans to hike investments in the U.S. semiconductor sector to $200 billion. Current-quarter spending is seen amounting to $4.5 billion, the company noted.
In its quarter ended in August, a tripling in cloud memory business sales to $4.5 billion helped group-wide revenue spike by 46% to $11.32 billion, also topping expectations.
4. Alibaba CEO backs further AI investment
Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba Group (HK:9988) jumped by more than 8% after the company unveiled its most powerful AI model to date and vowed to increase investment in the infrastructure underpinning the nascent technology.
At its annual conference, Alibaba launched Qwen3-Max, a language model with more than 1 trillion parameters, which the company says excels in code generation and autonomous agent tasks.
CEO Eddie Wu reiterated that Alibaba would increase its previously announced investment of 380 billion yuan (about $53.4 billion) in AI infrastructure over the next three years, but did not commit to a new figure.
Other new products revealed included Qwen3-Omni, a multimodal system designed for immersive experiences such as virtual reality and intelligent car cockpits, underscoring Alibaba’s ambition to expand AI beyond chatbots.
5. Gold steadies near all-time peak
Gold prices steadied, remaining close to recent record highs as the comments from Powell sparked heightened caution over growth, inflation, and interest rates.
Hopes for further rate cuts by the Fed before the end of 2025 have recently bolstered the yellow metal, given that lower rates also make non-yielding assets such as metals appear more attractive. Investors were keeping an eye on upcoming economic data this week, which could provide more insight into the state of inflation and broader activity.
Increased geopolitical uncertainty has also burnished bullion’s safe-haven reputation.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $3,775.56 an ounce, while gold futures fell 0.2% to $3,807.92/oz by 03:29 ET.