Major U.S. index futures jumped early Thursday as Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) earnings provided a shot in the arm for the market. A couple of market-moving economic data on the job market and the manufacturing sector and a Federal Reserve official’s speech could also affect the day’s trading. Given the confounding rate outlook, the focus is likely to be squarely on these numbers to understand their implications for the Fed funds rate. A market strategist pointed to historical seasonal strength around May-end through early July. Futures Performance (+/-) Nasdaq 100 +0.95% S&P 500 +0.59% Dow +0.14% R2K +0.18% In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) climbed 0.56% to $532.82 and the Invesco QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) traded up 0.91% at $459.95 according to Benzinga Pro data. Cues From Previous Session U.S. stocks ended Wednesday’s session weaker, dragged by the minutes of the May Federal Open Market Committee meeting that suggested the central bank is resigned to the idea of staying “higher for longer.” As rate-cut bets unraveled, bond yields nudged up, creating additional selling pressure. Investors also preferred to remain cautious ahead of Nvidia’s earnings. The averages opened on a narrowly mixed note and hugged the unchanged line until the afternoon. After declining sharply following the release of the minutes, they made good some of their losses by late trading and yet ended lower for the day. Barring healthcare, industrial, and IT stocks, all other S&P 500 sector classes ended in the red. The major indices all settled off their all-time highs, although the Nasdaq Composite managed to hit an intraday high. Index Performance (+/-) Value Nasdaq Composite -0.18% 16,801.54 S&P 500 Index -0.27% 5,307.01 Dow Industrials -0.51% 39,671.04 Russell 2000 -0.79% 2,081.71 Insights From Analysts: Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick on Wednesday shared a chart to suggest the market could go another leg ...