Tech stocks lead Wall Street higher as Nvidia lifts indexes
U.S. stocks rose Wednesday and erased their losses for the week so far, with Nvidia and other technology companies leading the rebound after a selloff tied to investors trying to gauge winners and losers in the artificial-intelligence boom. The S&P 500 gained for a second straight session following Monday’s decline, while the Dow and the Nasdaq also finished higher.
Nvidia was a key driver of the move, rising 1.4% ahead of its highly anticipated profit report released after trading ended Tuesday. The company, whose chips sit at the center of the AI-driven market, reported profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations and projected revenue of roughly $78 billion for the upcoming quarter, compared with analyst forecasts of less than $72.3 billion.
Nvidia’s influence extends beyond its own stock, with the company described as the largest U.S. market stock by value and therefore able to affect the S&P 500 more than any other company. AP also noted that Nvidia’s results have increasingly acted as a bellwether for broader market moves, reflecting how influential the AI supply-chain theme has become for investors’ expectations.
The rally came as investors weigh competing concerns about how much companies such as Alphabet and Amazon are spending on chips and equipment and whether they will recoup those investments through future productivity gains. AP said investors also have been looking at industries seen as potentially undercut by AI-powered competitors, fueling “sudden and swift sell-offs” for stocks viewed as exposed, including across software, trucking logistics and legal services.
Those concerns were layered on top of other worries affecting markets, including new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump to replace ones struck down by the Supreme Court. Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo & Investment Management, said in a statement that while the worries were “real,” investors could consider offsetting trends that may be overlooked, including solid U.S. company profit growth for the end of 2025.
Stocks of smaller companies helped in that context, as several firms reported results that beat expectations. Cava Group jumped 26.4% after delivering better profit and revenue than analysts expected, and its fiscal year revenue topped $1 billion for the first time, up 22.5% from the year earlier.
Axon Enterprise rose 17.6% after the maker of Tasers and body cameras with AI voice-activated assistants reported bigger profit and revenue than analysts expected. Those gains helped offset declines including a 13.6% drop for First Solar after it reported weaker profit than analysts expected.
Meanwhile, Lowe’s fell 5.6% despite reporting a larger profit than analysts expected, as investors focused instead on its outlook for profit through 2026. CEO Marvin Ellison said the broad housing market remains pressured, and AP reported that stocks for rival Home Depot and homebuilders also fell.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 56.06 points to 6,946.13, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 307.65 to 49,482.15, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 288.40 to 23,152.08. In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.05% from 4.04% late Tuesday, while European and Asian indexes rose across much of their trading sessions, including Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 2.2% and South Korea’s Kospi up 1.9%.