Stock Futures Point Higher After Indexes Close at Records; Chip Shares Lead Charge as Investors Continue to Shake Off Govt. Shutdown

Stock futures pointed higher Friday after major indexes set new closing records, as investors continue to downplay the U.S. government shutdown, now in its third day.

Yesterday, stock indexes ended higher for a fifth straight session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq, blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, and benchmark S&P 500 ending up 0.4%, 0.2%, and 0.1%. It was the second day in a row that the Dow and S&P 500 set new closing marks, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 also hit intraday records.

Futures associated with all three indexes were up roughly 0.2%, with chip stocks again leading the advance. Nvidia (NVDA) stock, which closed at its latest all-time high Thursday, rose 0.4% before the bell. Intel (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares, which both rose nearly 4% yesterday, were up roughly 1% each before the bell. Those of Broadcom (AVGO), Micron (MU), and TSMC (TSM) also were higher.

The government shutdown that began Wednesday is expected to delay the release of economic data, including Friday’s key jobs report. The lack of data complicates decision-making for Federal Reserve officials, who meet later in the month to decide whether to lower interest rates.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures pared gains and recently were up 0.5% to $60.80 per barrel after an overnight fire at a large Chevron refinery in the Los Angeles area. Gold futures, which set their latest record high early yesterday before retreating, advanced 0.6% to $3,890 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, advanced 0.2% to 97.86. The 10-year Treasury yield—which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans—was little changed at 4.09%. Bitcoin pulled back slightly but remained above $120,000.

Tesla (TSLA) shares, which closed down 5% yesterday even though third-quarter deliveries figures came in better than expected, were up more than 1% in premarket trading.

Elsewhere, Applied Materials (AMAT) shares fell 2.5% after the semiconductor equipment maker said export curbs to China will cause a combined $710 million revenue hit over the fourth quarter and fiscal 2026. Rumble (RUM) shares popped nearly 15% when the video sharing platform and cloud services provider announced a partnership with AI-powered answer engine Perplexity.