Higher European stock futures, boosted by Nvidia results

  As a result of Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) outstanding earnings and mounting anticipation that lackluster economic data will force central banks to stop raising interest rates, European stock markets are expected to open higher on Thursday.

The DAX futures contract in Germany, the CAC 40 futures contract in France, and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the United Kingdom all traded 0.5% higher at 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT).

Excellent Nvidia results improve feelings

As the most expensive chipmaker in the world benefited from a boom in artificial intelligence development, Nvidia released better-than-expected second-quarter profits late on Wednesday. The company also provided third-quarter guidance that surpassed expectations.

The stock market darling also disclosed a hefty $25 billion buyback program, which sparked sharp premarket gains and probably helped the tech sector in both the Asian and European markets.

ECB to take a break in September?

Investors have also been encouraged by the increased chance that the European Central Bank will suspend raising interest rates in September, as dismal business activity statistics pointed to worsening economic suffering in Europe.

While Britain's business activity unexpectedly contracted in August, Germany's commercial activity shrank at its sharpest rate in more than three years, increasing the prospect of a recession.

"There is a strong possibility that the ECB has already overtightened. The announcement of [today's] PMI decreases the likelihood of a rate hike in September (our base case) and raises the possibility that rate reduction may occur sooner than most Governing Council members anticipated, according to economists at Citigroup.

Jackson Hole hosts a gathering of central bankers.

Speaking at the Jackson Hole symposium of the Federal Reserve on Friday are Governor Andrew Bailey of the Bank of England and President Christine Lagarde of the European Central Bank.

In spite of this, investors will undoubtedly pay close attention to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech in order to determine the course of monetary policy going forward.

Crude drops on growth concerns

Thursday saw a slight decline in oil prices as a string of disappointing PMI readings raised worries about a slowing global economy and future demand.

The information released on Wednesday also revealed an unexpected, significant increase in gasoline and distillate inventories over the previous week, which suggested a decline in domestic fuel consumption and completely obscured a larger-than-anticipated reduction in overall oil inventories.

U.S. oil futures were trading 0.3% lower at $78.69 a barrel by 2:00 ET, while the Brent price was down 0.2% at $83.06.

Moreover, gold futures increased by 0.1% to $1,949.60/oz, and the EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.0871.