An index tracking global stocks inched upwards in volatile trading on Thursday as investors processed disappointing revenue projections from AI chip manufacturer Nvidia, while oil prices rose amid escalating tensions from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Nvidia, the most valuable company worldwide and a significant driver of this year’s increases in the benchmark S&P 500, reached an all-time high early in the trading session before retracing and dropping approximately 1%. The chipmaker indicated it would experience its slowest revenue growth in seven quarters on Wednesday.
“(Nvidia’s) performance is still impressive, but the letdown may stem from a somewhat muted growth forecast for Q4 on the top line,” remarked Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers in Boston.
In Wall Street’s market, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were buoyed by stocks in energy, industrials, and consumer staples. However, communication services stocks dragged the Nasdaq lower, largely due to a 6% loss in Alphabet. U.S. prosecutors argued on Wednesday that Alphabet should sell its widely used Chrome browser to terminate Google’s search monopoly.
The Dow gained 0.84% to 43,774.53, while the S&P 500 rose 0.24% to 5,931.60, and the Nasdaq Composite decreased by 0.40% to 18,890.59.
MSCI’s global stock index increased by 0.14% to 849 after an early-session dip. European stocks climbed by 0.37%.
“The market appears to be seeking a narrative at this moment and is lacking any news that could steer its direction,” Melson added.
Bitcoin surged, approaching the $100,000 landmark. The leading cryptocurrency has thrived amid anticipations that the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will support crypto initiatives. Bitcoin rose 2.52% to $96,818.00, and Ethereum climbed 7.33% to $3,306.40.
Markets are also watching Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, who will be pivotal in executing his policies regarding tariffs, tax reductions, and deregulation.
In choppy trading, the dollar strengthened as investors evaluated falling weekly jobless claims, pointing to robust labor market health, along with remarks from a couple of Federal Reserve governors regarding interest rates.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar decreased by 0.63% to 154.45, yet it rose by 0.15% to 0.885 against the Swiss franc.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and euro, grew by 0.22% to 106.84, with the euro down 0.42% at $1.05.
Oil prices ascended by over 1% after missile exchanges between Russia and Ukraine raised concerns about crude supply. Brent crude futures increased by 1.72% to $74.06, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures surged 1.86% to $70.04.
Spot gold increased, on track for its fourth consecutive session of gains after hitting a more than one-week peak. Spot gold rose 0.73% to $2,669.18 an ounce, and U.S. gold futures climbed 0.61% to $2,664.30 an ounce.
Looking ahead at the day in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan
There’s not much concern for the world’s most valuable company or the artificial intelligence sector, but the acknowledgment that triple-digit growth cannot persist indefinitely has been sufficient to stall Nvidia’s stock price and depress global tech shares.
The $3.6 trillion chip behemoth’s revenue outlook on Wednesday fell short of Wall Street expectations, resulting in its stock dropping more than 3% before the market opened—while peers like Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, and Qualcomm dipped about 1% in sympathy, and European chipmakers also faced declines.
Despite exceeding most performance metrics and consensus predictions once again, Nvidia projected its slowest revenue growth in seven quarters and flagged supply chain issues persisting into next year. Executives warned investors that the company’s margins would fall several percentage points into the low-70% range until production challenges are resolved.
However, there’s no need for excessive concern. The AI leader’s latest earnings report was still remarkable by most standards—sales in its primary data center division more than doubled, and the company’s projected revenue of $37.5 billion for the fourth quarter surpassed average forecasts of $37.09 billion.
In many ways, the market’s price reaction seems modest. After a 20% surge in shares over the past two months, it appears that much of the ongoing boom is already priced in.
Of greater concern on Wednesday was U.S. retailer Target’s substantial miss on its profit and holiday-quarter sales outlook—which caused its stock to plunge more than 20% and contrasted sharply with the previous day’s robust performance from the world’s largest retailer, Walmart.
The political implications of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration still loomed large in the background, with no indication yet of his choice for Treasury Secretary—and geopolitical apprehensions continued internationally.
One of the few post-election trades that remained active was Bitcoin—bolting close to a record $98,000 overnight, having risen more than 40% over the past month.
Overall, the broader market exhibited more restraint, with stock futures slightly down on Thursday and most European and Asian indexes also trending lower.
U.S. Treasury yields declined even after a poorly received 20-year bond auction on Wednesday, though the dollar maintained its strength.
