US stocks soared on Thursday, breaching record highs, powered by blockbuster earnings from AI darling Nvidia (NVDA).
The tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) shot up nearly 3% on the heels of the chipmaker's results, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) jumped about 2.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) popped almost 1.2%, or more than 400 points.
Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones closed at record highs on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite closed just shy of a record high while the Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) rose more than 3% to an all-time high. The last time the Nasdaq 100 moved more than 3% and hit a record high on the same day was in March of 2000, per Bespoke Investment Group.
Stocks powered higher as Wall Street celebrated Nvidia's blowout quarterly results, which beat sky-high expectations. That reassured investors about the strength of the AI mania that has lifted US stock gauges to record highs.
The chipmaker's CEO said generative AI has "hit the tipping point" as it reported a 265% rise in revenue and laid out very upbeat guidance, a sign demand for AI hardware is booming. Nvidia shares climbed about 16% to hit a record high. The stock added $277 billion to its market cap on Thursday, the largest single day increase ever.
The bullish mood spread worldwide, with chip stock gains helping Japan's Nikkei 225 (^N225) index to finally beat a record that had stood since 1989. Similarly, techs boosted the pan-European Stoxx 600 (^STOXX) to a fresh all-time intraday high.
Amid the ebullience, an assessment of the Fed's next move appeared to be on the back burner. The central bank's latest minutes showed most officials want to tread carefully on rate cuts, seeing risks in moving too quickly.
Source : Yahoo Finance / Feb 23, 2024