NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising after market superstar Nvidia and another round of companies said they’re making fatter profits than expected. The S&P 500 added 0.4% in early trading Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 123 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.5%. The moves were part of a busy day for financial markets worldwide, as crude oil prices continued to rise. A barrel of U.S. crude topped $70 amid escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war. Bitcoin, meanwhile, topped $98,000 for the first time and stormed closer to the $100,000 mark to continue its strong run since Election Day.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Street is on track to open with gains following another strong earnings report from chipmaker Nvidia even if it didn’t meet the sky-high expectations of investors.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% before the bell Thursday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%.
Nvidia’s latest sales and profit report again topped analysts’ expectations, but the chipmaker’s shares were down less than 1% just hours before Thursday’s opening bell.
Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said the market reaction to Nvidia’s performance was partly due to the positioning of investors before quarterly results were published.
It’s grown so fast, with its stock nearly tripling for the year so far, that pressure has grown for it to show it can keep leapfrogging past high expectations on Wall Street.
Shares of Google parent company Alphabet also retreated less than 1% after U.S. regulators asked judge to break up the tech giant by forcing it to sell its industry-leading Chrome web browser. In a 23-page document filed late Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice called for sweeping punishments that would include restrictions preventing Android from favoring its own search engine.
Regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android, but left the door open to it if the company’s oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct.
U.S. benchmark crude prices are up 5% this week and on Thursday broke above $70 per barrel with Russia’s war in Ukraine intensifying. After the Biden administration allowed Ukraine to attack Russia with longer-range American-made ATACMS missiles, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for using his nuclear arsenal, with the new doctrine announced this week permitting a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power.