Nvidia breaches US$5 trillion in market cap

Wall Street’s main indexes hit record highs on Wednesday (Oct 29), with Nvidia becoming the first company to surpass a US$5 trillion valuation, while investors awaited an expected Federal Reserve rate cut and a wave of Big Tech results.

Shares of Nvidia rose 4.7 per cent, storming past the milestone after CEO Jensen Huang announced US$500 billion in AI chip orders and plans to build seven supercomputers for the US government.

The stock has risen about 50 per cent so far this year, and has been among the top boosts to US equities in 2025. Apple briefly topped US$4 trillion in market cap on Tuesday, while Microsoft trades above that level.

“While the US$5 trillion milestone seems unfathomable in a historic context, it comes in the wake of a company that has managed to outperform on all metrics,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth Management.

The S&P 500 tech index gained 1.4 per cent, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index added 2.1 per cent.

Meta and Microsoft were flat, while Alphabet gained 0.3 per cent ahead of their earnings results after markets close.

At 9.46am Eastern Time (9.46pm Singapore time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.35 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.66 per cent.

The three major indexes have hit a series of record highs in recent days, driven by optimism around artificial intelligence, positive earnings momentum and expectations of rate cuts from the US central bank.

Boeing fell 3 per cent after the planemaker reported a charge of nearly US$5 billion related to delays in its 777X jet program, while Caterpillar shares jumped nearly 10 per cent after beating third-quarter profit expectations.

Seagate Technology shares rose 13.5 per cent after the company forecast second-quarter earnings above Wall Street estimates.

Peers Sandisk and Western Digital gained 7.3 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.

Verizon rose 3 per cent after beating estimates for quarterly profit and wireless subscriber additions.

S&P consumer staples dropped 0.9 per cent. Both Kraft Heinz and Cadbury-maker Mondelez International trimmed their annual profit forecasts, sending shares down 2.4 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively.

Of the 222 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, almost 85 per cent have posted earnings above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG as of Wednesday.