U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Tuesday as investors awaited a clutch of economic reports and clung to hopes of a half-percentage-point rate cut at the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, which starts later in the day.

Market Snapshot

At 8:10 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 122 points, or 0.29%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 23.75 points, or 0.42%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 128.25 points, or 0.65%.

Pre-Market Movers

Intel jumped 7% after the semiconductor maker said it would beturning its chip contract manufacturing business into an independent subsidiaryand reached a multibillion-dollar agreement for  Amazon.com’ s   Amazon Web Services to manufacture chips at Intel factories using an advanced chip-making technology expected to go into production in 2025. Intel also said would be receiving $3 billion in federal funding to make chips for the Defense Department.

Mobileye Global, the Israeli developer of driver-assistance technology, was rising 4% after the company wasn ’ t mentioned as part of what Intel called "the next phase" of its "transformation." It was reported earlier this month by Bloomberg that Intel was considering options for its stake in Mobileye as part of a chip maker ’ s overhaul. Intel currently owns 88% of Mobileye.

Microsoft rose 1.8% after the software giant said it wouldboost its quarterly dividendby about 11% to 83 cents a share and that its board authorized a new stock buyback program of up to $60 billion.

Dell Technologies rose 2% to $117.66 after shares of the personal-computer maker were initiated with an Outperform rating and price target of $135 at Mizuho. The analysts also initiated coverage of Super Micro Computer at Neutral and a $450 price target. Shares of the server maker were rising 0.8% to $452.80 in premarket trading.

SolarEdge Technologies declined 6.5% to $20.52 after shares of the solar-power-equipment maker were downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies   and the price target was reduced to $17 from $27.

Ferguson Enterprises, the distributor of plumbing supplies, reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.98 on sales of $7.95 billion. Analysts were expecting profit of $2.85 a share on sales of $8 billion. The company said it expects low single-digit net sales growth in fiscal 2025. The stock declined 3.6%.

Market News

Mizuho Initiates Coverage on Dell, SMCI Amid AI Boom

Mizuho Securities in a note dated Monday have initiated coverage on two major players in the AI server market, namely Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer, citing the growing potential of the AI server industry, which is projected to reach $406 billion by 2027.

The analysts project a compound annual growth rate of 54% for AI servers from 2023 to 2027, far outpacing the 7% CAGR of traditional compute servers.

Mizuho has given Dell an "outperform" rating, with a price target of $135, reflecting a 14.3x price-to-earnings ( P/E ) multiple.  

Boeing, Union Negotiators to Meet as Striking Workers Dig in

Negotiators at Boeing and its largest union are due to resume talks over a labor contract on Tuesday, as the planemaker seeks to bring a swift end to a strike that is costing the indebted company an estimated $100 million a day.

More than 30,000 Boeing factory workers in the Seattle area went on strike on Friday after overwhelmingly rejecting their first full contract offer in 16 years, which included a 25% pay increase spread over four years but removed an annual performance bonus.