NEW YORK: Blockbuster earnings from AI chip behemoth Nvidia boosted technology stocks Thursday (Aug 27), but broader market movements were lackluster as investors awaited a key speech by the US Federal Reserve chairman on the prospects for the world’s biggest economy.
While inflation and rising government bond yields worldwide have tempered the euphoria surrounding the artificial intelligence boom in recent sessions, Nvidia’s blowout results lifted shares of the chipmaker by nearly nine per cent.
Strong results from fellow tech titan Salesforce also gave markets a lift.
“The broader takeaway for AI remains highly constructive,” said a note from LPL Financial’s Adam Turnquist. “Nvidia’s results imply the AI capital expenditure cycle is not slowing but, in Huang’s words, continues at ‘full steam.'”
In its highly anticipated report, Nvidia – the world’s biggest company by market value – shattered analyst forecasts by unveiling revenues that more than doubled in the second quarter from the year earlier, to a whopping $96 billion.
Nvidia’s rise helped lift all three major US equity indices, led by the tech-centred Nasdaq, which piled on 1.6 per cent.
But the gains were not broad-based across the stock market. Out of 11 industrial sectors in the S&P 500, only technology advanced.
The biggest losing sector was consumer discretionary, with industrials and real estate also decisively lower.
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