NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were little changed in thin trading as investors awaited long-awaited earnings from Nvidia, the semiconductor company that makes chips that power AI applications. At the open on Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1%. The Dow hit a record high for the second consecutive session. Department store chain Nordstrom rose 2.6% after handily beating Wall Street profit expectations. Nvidia reported its latest results after the close. The company’s revenue is expected to soar to $28.74 billion, more than double from the same period last year.
This is breaking news. See AP’s previous coverage below.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street was little changed in thin trading early Wednesday as investors eagerly awaited chipmaker Nvidia’s earnings report later in the day.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were each down less than 0.1% before the close, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new record high.
Nordstrom rose 1.7% in overnight trading after better-than-expected sales handily beat Wall Street profit estimates. The company also raised its earnings per share outlook and said it plans to open 21 more stores by fall 2025, on top of the 11 it has opened so far this year.
Investor enthusiasm for soap and fragrance retailer Bath & Body Works Inc. tumbled 2.7 percent in morning trading after the company reported sales that fell short of analysts’ expectations and also gave a weaker full-year sales outlook.
Most investors and market watchers are keeping their eyes on Nvidia’s upcoming earnings report, as big tech companies like the company, with a combined market cap of over $3 trillion, have become incredibly influential, if not overstated, of late.
“That’s the big question, and it’s going to be a big part of Nvidia’s earnings report this week,” said Bill Mertz, head of capital markets research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “That’s kind of the question that a lot of investors are looking at, and it’s something that can’t be ignored.”
Nvidia has seen its profits grow 159% this year thanks to surging demand for semiconductors used to power artificial intelligence applications. Wall Street expects the company to post second-quarter sales of $28.7 billion, more than double last year’s third quarter.
Investors are also keeping an eye on Friday when the U.S. government releases the latest data on inflation, the personal consumption expenditures report for July, PCE, hoping that the data will show inflation easing further, or at least stagnating, giving Federal Reserve officials more confidence to cut interest rates at their September meeting, as they have strongly hinted at doing so.
Meanwhile, in Europe, France’s CAC 40 was up 0.6% and Germany’s DAX was up 0.9% as of midday, while Britain’s FTSE 100 was down about 0.1%.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average rose 0.2 percent to finish at 38,371.76.
Toyota shares rose 3.9 percent after Japanese media reported that the top Japanese automaker plans to announce a cooperation agreement on fuel cells with European carmaker BMW.
Fuel cell vehicles are environmentally friendly vehicles that run on electricity produced when hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water. Japanese business daily Nikkei reported that the partnership will be announced next week.
Toyota Motor Corp., often criticized for lagging behind in the global push for electric vehicles, is a longtime proponent of fuel cells.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil fell $1.36 to $74.17 a barrel, while the international standard Brent crude lost $1.23 to $77.43 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 144.32 yen from 143.91 yen, while the euro fell to 1.1122 dollars from 1.1188 dollars.
Yuri Kageyama And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
#Stock #market #today #Wall #Street #quiet #market #awaits #Nvidias #latest #earnings #report