(Feb 26): Stocks climbed in late hours on speculation that Nvidia Corp’s strong outlook will help reignite confidence in the artificial-intelligence trade that has powered the bull market.
A US$700 billion ETF tracking the S&P 500 rose after the close of regular trading. The giant chipmaker that’s seen as a barometer for the revolutionary technology said fiscal first-quarter sales will be about US$78 billion, beating the average estimate of US$72.8 billion. Its shares gained about 1.5%.
“Once again, Nvidia came out and really stepped up to the plate with extremely impressive numbers across the board,” said Ryan Detrick at Carson Group. “This is a nice cherry on top to an extremely impressive overall earnings season for Corporate America.”
While there are “some legit worries out there”, new highs in earnings and profit margins continue to justify this bull market, Detrick noted.
After powering the market higher for much of the past few years, Nvidia has languished in recent months as investors question the massive AI spending. Traders have also been fleeing sectors seen as potentially under threat from disruption.
Investors have been so sensitive that a report from a little known firm called Citrini Research outlining the potential AI risks to various industries — using hypothetical scenarios set in the future — jolted markets earlier this week.
See also: S&P 500 rises as tech shares advance before Nvidia earnings
In regular hours, equities notched their second straight day of gains, with tech shares leading the charge. Bitcoin hovered near US$69,000. A rally in bonds stalled.
Wolfe Research conducted a poll that suggests most investors bet the AI “wrecking ball” that’s roiled markets is largely “overblown”, said Chris Senyek. However, participants viewed the “broadening out” trade as alive.
Recent price action tied to AI disruption risk presents opportunities in well-positioned incumbents and AI adopters with pricing power, according to Morgan Stanley strategists including Andrew Pauker.
See also: Tech stocks power gains after AI-fuelled sell-off
The strategists also noted that an analysis of over 10,000 earnings and conference transcripts shows a steady increase in the share of companies seeing quantifiable benefits from AI adoption.
Meantime, US President Donald Trump is convening tech executives from firms including Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc at the White House next week to sign pledges committing their companies to foot the electricity bill for energy-hungry data centres.
Corporate highlights:
- Salesforce Inc gave a lukewarm outlook for sales growth, fueling worries that the software giant will lose out to new competitors in the age of AI.
- Snowflake Inc gave a sales outlook that was in line with estimates, disappointing investors who were looking for a stronger showing to overcome jitters about the software industry’s viability in the age of AI.
- Paramount Skydance Corp reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat projections, just days after submitting a new bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery Inc.
- Advanced Micro Devices Inc will buy US$150 million in Nutanix Inc. stock as part of a new partnership that also includes joint engineering and sales efforts.
- Lowe’s sales guidance for the full year fell short of expectations, a sign the housing market will remain lacklustre in the near term.
- Circle Internet Group Inc soared after saying strong demand for its stablecoin bolstered profit and revenue during the fourth-quarter downturn in digital assets.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The S&P 500 was 0.8% higher as of 4pm New York time on Wednesday
- The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.4%
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
- The MSCI World Index rose 0.8%
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Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
- The euro rose 0.3% to US$1.1806
- The British pound rose 0.5% to US$1.3554
- The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 156.46 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin rose 8% to US$69,164.26
- Ether rose 12% to US$2,075.45
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.05%
- Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.71%
- Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.32%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to US$65.47 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.2% to US$5,152.13 an ounce
Uploaded by Jason Ng
