S&P 500 and Nasdaq Soar After Nvidia's Blowout Earnings

Barry Adams
22 Feb, 2024
New York City

Benchmark indexes on Wall Street advanced after Nvidia's quarterly results surpassed elevated expectations. 

The S&P 500 index increased 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2%. 

Nvidia said revenue in the fourth quarter soared 265% from a year ago to $22.1 billion, driven by a surge in demand for artificial intelligence-driven applications. 

“Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point. Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.

Nvidia's blowout results boosted other semiconductor stocks, and ASML, AMD, TSMC, Intel, and Qualcomm jumped between 2% and 4%. 

Nvidia stock has jumped 40% so far this year and soared 225% in the last 52- weeks of trading. 

Investors are also awaiting the release of the weekly jobless claims update and existing home sales data later today. 

Treasury yields edged higher after the latest policy meeting minutes showed that policymakers are worried that lowering the interest rate too soon may prolong higher inflation. 

 

U.S. indexes and yields

The S&P 500 index increased 1.2% to 5,030.81, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.1% to 15,830.84. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes increased to 4.70%, 10-year Treasury notes inched up to 4.33%, and 30-year Treasury bonds edged up to 4.49%.

WTI crude oil increased $0.19 to $77.72 a barrel, and natural gas prices decreased 7 cents to $1.69 a thermal unit and rebounded from a low last seen in September 2020.

Gold increased by $2.91 to $2,027.72 an ounce, tracking lower yields on U.S. Treasury notes. 

The dollar index, which weighs the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, edged lower to 103.78.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Nvidia Corp. jumped 13.1% to $762.86 after the advanced semiconductor chipmaker reported a 265% jump in revenue in its latest quarter. 

Revenue in the fourth quarter increased to $22.1 billion from $6.2 billion, net income soared 769% to $12.3 billion from $1.4 billion, and diluted earnings per share jumped to $4.93 from 57 cents a year ago. 

For the fiscal year, revenue jumped 126% to $60.9 billion, net income soared 581% to $29.7 billion from $4.93 billion, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $11.93 from $1.74 a year ago. 

The closely watched Data Center business' sales soared fivefold to $18.4 billion from $3.6 billion. The business segment includes the company's popular H100 graphics card used for powering generative artificial intelligence apps. 

Lucid Group declined 8.1% to $3.40 after the electric vehicle maker reported weaker-than-expected revenue in its latest quarter as losses widened. 

Rivian Automotive dropped 17.2% to $12.74 after the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results and said electric vehicle production in 2024 was 57,000, lower than 57,232 a year ago. 

Revenue in the fourth quarter was $1.32 billion, a net loss of $1.52 billion from $1.72 billion a year ago. 

Moderna increased 4.4% to $91.50 after the vaccine maker reported larger-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter and an unexpected profit.