US STOCKS-S&P, Dow edge higher, Nvidia market cap exceeds $2 trillion
On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Dow posted record high closes and Nvidia added $277 billion in stock market value, Wall Street's largest ever daily gain, the session after its blowout forecast boosted investor confidence. On Friday, shares of the chip designer were up 1.7% in early-afternoon trade after choppy early trading as investors digested the previous session's stellar advance.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average clung to gains on Friday and all three Wall Street indexes appeared headed for weekly gains as some momentum ebbed from this week's dizzying recent rally.
There was still enough juice around artificial intelligence to propel AI poster child Nvidia above $2 trillion in market valuation for the first time. On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Dow posted record high closes and Nvidia added $277 billion in stock market value, Wall Street's largest ever daily gain, the session after its blowout forecast boosted investor confidence.
On Friday, shares of the chip designer were up 1.7% in early-afternoon trade after choppy early trading as investors digested the previous session's stellar advance. Other Big Tech and growth stocks gave up some gains from the previous session's AI frenzy. Apple was down 0.9% while Tesla fell 2%.
Shares of Super Micro Computer, another beneficiary of the AI rally, dropped 12.4% after the server component maker priced its convertible notes. "This is much more of puts and takes of what's been a very solid week and folks thinking about how they want to be positioned going out over the weekend," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth. Still he voiced optimism about the outlook for Nvidia and AI-related stocks.
"We are certainly continuing to get new evidence that artificial intelligence is going to drive a lot of excitement in equity markets. Clearly they (Nvidia) have more runway in front of them." At 1:57 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 90.97 points, or 0.23%, at 39,160.08, and the S&P 500 had advanced 8.96 points, or 0.18%, at 5,095.99. The Nasdaq Composite was 3 points lower, or 0.02%, at 16,038.60.
The S&P 500 and Dow appeared headed for record closing highs again. Investors will also watch whether the Nasdaq can surpass the all-time high hit in November 2021. A majority of the S&P sectors were in positive territory. Among the best performers were utilities, which had been the sole laggard the previous day, as well as materials and industrials. All three climbed by more than 0.6%.
Carvana surged 31.3% on reporting its first-ever annual profit, helped by its pact with bondholders to cut its outstanding debt by $1 billion. Warner Bros Discovery shed 9.3% on reporting a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss, as the media conglomerate battled the fallout of the twin Hollywood strikes on content generation.
Jack Dorsey-led Block jumped 18.2% after the payments firm forecast adjusted core earnings for the current quarter above Wall Street estimates, betting on consumer resilience.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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