Stock futures were slightly higher on Thursday as traders pored over Nvidia’s earnings results and forecast. Investors largely looked at the numbers as affirming the AI boom. S&P 500 futures ticked up by 0.1%, as did Nasdaq-100 futures. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 79 points, or 0.2%. Nvidia – which makes up about 8% of the S&P 500, per FactSet – reported second-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s estimates with booming revenue growth of 56%. There were a couple initial concerns, however: first, revenue for its data center business was a hair under estimates. Second, the company guided overall revenue for this quarter of $54 billion, only slightly above expectations of $53.1 billion of analysts polled by LSEG. The stock initially pulled back but was on the comeback trail as the opening bell approached. It was last trading down around 0.5%, recouping some of its earlier losses. Many traders and analysts noted that the revenue guide does not assume any H20 chip sales to China. If a deal can be worked out involving China and the Trump administration on those sales, then revenue this quarter could be much better than forecast. “They didn’t include China in their guide, and some people were hoping there were some China sales in there, maybe a little firmer stance that China sales could get going,” Ben Reitzes, head of technology research at Melius, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The core growth outside of China was really good,” he added. “There should be more great growth in the fourth quarter, so I think we’re all systems go.” Several analysts covering Nvidia became even more bullish on Nvidia after the report, raising their price targets on the stock. JPMorgan, Citi and Bernstein were among the Wall Street firms that now see even greater upside for the chipmaker. And other chipmakers that initially fell began recovering as well. Broadcom even traded slightly higher in the premarket, signaling that many investors believe Nvidia’s results gave the greenlight for the AI trade to continue. “The negative stock reaction feels like a bit of an incorrect knee-jerk reaction,” said David Wagner, head of equity at Aptus Capital Advisors, adding that investors should be “buying the pullback.” “The company is still growing over 50% on their guidance at a $50B quarterly revenue run rate – that’s remarkable, even for the current valuation,” he said. Meanwhile, shares of AI play Snowflake jumped 12% in premarket trading after its second-quarter results surpassed expectations. The market is coming off a winning session Wednesday with the S&P 500 notching a record in anticipation of strong Nvidia results. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are each up more than 2% for August, while the 30-stock Dow is up more than 3% in the period. Investors have been shrugging off threats to the Federal Reserve’s independence from the Trump administration after President Donald Trump told Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook that she’s fired earlier this week, a move that Cook plans to legally challenge. The market’s next obstacle will be an inflation report Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones are forecasting that the personal consumption expenditures price index’s reading for July will show a rise of 0.2% for the month and 2.6% for the year. U.S. Treasury yields held steady on Thursday as investors looked ahead to a key inflation gauge and monitored President Donald Trump’s continued attempts to control the Federal Reserve. The 10-year Treasury yield was down less than 1 basis point to 4.23%, while the 2-year yield was up less than a basis point to 3.627%. Asia-Pacific markets closed mixed Thursday in the absence of any major triggers, with investors assessing the Bank of Korea’s policy decision. South Korea’s central bank kept its policy rate unchanged at 2.5% for a second straight meeting despite an uncertain trade environment for the country. The move was in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.29% to close at 3,196.32 and the small-cap Kosdaq lost 0.41% to end the trading day at 798.43. The South Korean won strengthened 0.36% to 1,387.58 against the greenback. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.73% to end the trading day at 42,828.79, while the Topix inched higher by 0.65% to close at 3,089.78. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.22% to close at 8,980. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 0.79% while mainland’s CSI 300 added 1.77% to end the trading day at 4,463.78. Oil fell on Thursday after rising in the previous session, pressured by expectations of lower U.S. fuel demand with the end of the summer travel season and by the restart of Russian supply to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline. Crude had risen on Wednesday after official data showed U.S. crude inventories fell by 2.4 million barrels in the week ended August 22, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.9-million-barrel draw, a sign of strong demand. However, oil market participants see the upcoming U.S. Labor Day long weekend as the unofficial end of the summer driving season, and the onset of lower U.S. demand for gasoline. Brent crude futures dropped 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $67.86, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declined 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $63.86. Gold held firm near a more-than-two-week peak on Thursday, as the dollar softened and investors hunkered down for Friday’s U.S. inflation data for cues on the Federal Reserve’s policy path. Spot gold was up 0.1% at $3,399.60 per ounce, after hitting $3,401.73, its highest level since August 11, earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures for December delivery edged 0.2% higher to $3,456.20. The dollar index was down 0.1% against its rivals.