U.S. stock futures steady after equities slump in the prior session, with traders attempting to gauge mixed artificial intelligence-related headlines and a murky economic backdrop. Uncertainty over the economy and an extended U.S. government shuttering helps to fuel a spike in gold prices above the $4,000 per ounce level for the first time. The Federal Reserve is due to release minutes from its latest policy meeting, while AI-darling Nvidia is reported to be among a group of investors in xAI’s $20 billion capital raising round.

1. Futures point higher

U.S. stock futures hovered above the flatline on Wednesday, as investors assessed fresh worries over the AI boom and kept tabs on the broader economic outlook despite a lack of official data during an ongoing federal government shutdown.

By 03:48 ET (07:48 GMT), S&P 500 futures had climbed by 8 points, or 0.1%, Nasdaq 100 futures had edged up by 38 points, or 0.2%, and Dow futures had risen by 60 points, or 0.1%.

On Tuesday, equities on Wall Street retreated from recent record highs, with the benchmark S&P 500 falling by 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declining by 0.7%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average also dipped by 0.2%.

Partly fueling these drops was a slump in shares of cloud software group Oracle, which had surged just last month on hopes that it would be a major winner in the AI race. Analysts flagged a news report in The Information, which suggested that the margin profile of Oracle’s AI cloud infrastructure business, which has been pressurized by heavy expenditures on the nascent technology, was worse than previously thought.

Still, the narrative around AI, perhaps the biggest supporter of the torrid run higher for stocks, remained intact. Shares in AMD, which announced a deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI earlier this week, extended a rise into a second day, while IBM advanced on a partnership with AI-name Anthropic and AI server firm Dell rallied on a raised long-term guidance.

With the prolonged shutdown leading to the delay of several key economic indicators from the government, traders have had to turn to alternative data sources to check in on the health of the American economy. These measures dented sentiment in the previous session, especially a New York Federal Reserve survey displaying a deterioration in future expectations and rising projections for inflation.

2. Gold tops $4,000 per ounce

Gold prices have soared above $4,000 per ounce for the first time, as market participants like private investors and central banks moved to take advantage of the safe-haven status of the yellow metal during a time of political upheaval and economic uncertainty.

Bullion has surged by over 50% so far this year, posting a series of fresh all-time peaks along the way. It is now on track to jump to its best year since 1979.

Analysts have noted that the U.S. government shutdown, combined with a weakening of other popular havens such as the dollar and U.S. government bonds due to anticipated Fed rate cuts and concerns over America’s fiscal profile, have burnished gold.

The Japanese yen, also a traditional haven, took a knock as well following the election of a new, more dovish leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The global political landscape was even made more unclear after the surprise resignation of France’s Prime Minister on Monday, giving additional support to gold.

Meanwhile, many exchange-traded funds have been expanding their holdings of gold as anticipation of Fed rate reductions intensifies, analysts at ING said in a note. Some central banks are also snapping up the precious metal, with the People’s Bank of China in particular extending its gold buying streak in September for an eleventh straight month despite record high prices.

3. FOMC minutes ahead

Attention is now set to turn to the release of minutes on Wednesday from the Fed’s latest policy meeting in September.

At the gathering, Fed members voted to slash interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, restarting a cycle of policy easing that had been put on hold since December.

Officials broadly predicted that further rate cuts may be coming at the central bank’s final two meetings of the year, one later this month from October 28-29 and another in December.

Underpinning these projections was a perceived desire to prioritize bolstering a recently slowing U.S. labor market over stubborn inflation. In theory, rate reductions can promote hiring and investment, albeit at the risk of driving up prices.

"The Fed minutes in aggregate should echo the incrementally dovish shift in bias" from the Fed’s September statement and a press conference from Chair Jerome Powell, analysts at Vital Knowledge said. "[B]ut they will probably reflect deep divisions too, as some officials push for a fairly aggressive rate cutting campaign while others prefer to limit the easing to 1-2 reduction given persistent inflation challenges and an employment situation that remains decent on an absolute basis."

Elsewhere, a few Fed officials are scheduled to speak, although the lack of new economic data means that their comments are not likely to fundamentally alter rate path bets, the analysts added.

4. Nvidia among investors in xAI’s $20-billion capital raise - Bloomberg

Elon Musk-backed artificial intelligence startup xAI increased a planned capital raise to as much as $20 billion, including an investment from Nvidia to procure more AI processors, Bloomberg News reported.

The financing is largely aimed at procuring more Nvidia chips that xAI plans to use in its upcoming Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, the report said. The capital raise includes equity and debt.

Nvidia will invest as much as $2 billion in the equity portion of the deal, Bloomberg reported. The move is largely part of Nvidia’s strategy to help accelerate its customers’ AI investments, with the chipmaker having pledged about $100 billion to OpenAI last week -- although some observers have become increasingly concerned that the circular nature of these deals may belie the robustness of the AI boom.

Previous reports said xAI was aiming to raise around $10 billion in its ongoing funding round. Other reports also valued xAI at $200 billion in September, making it among the most valuable startups in the world, behind OpenAI.

5. ABB to sell robotics unit to Japan’s SoftBank

Swiss engineering giant ABB on Wednesday said it agreed to sell its robotics unit to SoftBank Group Corp. for an enterprise value of $5.38 billion, dropping its initial plan to spin off the business.

The deal will generate cash proceeds of roughly $5.3 billion, ABB said in a statement, and is expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.

ABB said the proceeds of the deal will be used towards its “long-term capital allocation principles,” which will include investing in acquisitions, organic growth, and potential returns to shareholders.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said in a statement that the acquisition was aimed at furthering the Japanese conglomerate’s ambitions of “physical AI,” in that the firm will meld its robotics and artificial intelligence capabilities. SoftBank, under Son, has aggressively invested in AI and AI-linked sectors over the past two years.