Nasdaq futures were up in overnight trading as Wall Street rebounded strongly following a volatile few days. The rally gained momentum from Amazon's better-than-expected second-quarter revenue, fueled by robust growth in its cloud-computing division, which boosted confidence in continued artificial intelligence spending. Meanwhile, Apple also reported fiscal third-quarter revenue exceeding expectations, led by a 22% surge in iPhone sales, though weaker service revenues caused its stock to decline. This upbeat sentiment helped push Nasdaq 100 futures 0.5% higher, with Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures rising modestly.

The strong performance of major U.S. tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft, which jumped 16% after solid Azure cloud growth, triggered a surge in AI-related semiconductor stocks. South Korea's Kospi index soared over 13% due to massive gains in chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, causing trading curbs to be imposed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also advanced over 3%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose nearly 1%. The semiconductor rally extended to Japanese chip stocks and SoftBank Group, a significant AI proxy, underscoring widespread investor enthusiasm surrounding AI technology investments.

Despite the recent market volatility, including a sharp 1,100-point drop in the Dow on concerns that the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates steady left it behind in combating inflation, the major U.S. indices are set to finish the week higher. Treasury yields have also risen, reflecting shifts in expectations about the Fed’s future moves. Experts like Richard Bernstein from Janus Henderson Investors note that investors are moving beyond momentum-driven trades toward companies with improving fundamentals, signaling a broadening market leadership beyond the so-called “Magnificent 7” stocks.

In other corporate news, Mitsubishi Materials announced a 50 million-euro investment to increase tungsten scrap processing capacity in Germany by 2028, boosting its shares by over 5%. HSBC’s Hong Kong-listed shares hit record highs after agreeing to sell its A$36 billion Australian home loan portfolio to Blackstone, marking the largest deal of its kind globally. Conversely, China’s factory activity unexpectedly contracted in July, adding pressure on Beijing to stimulate domestic demand as export growth slows. Additionally, refining stocks reached all-time highs due to strong crack spreads amid the escalating Iran conflict, highlighted by PBF Energy’s blowout earnings well above forecasts.