NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended mixed on Wednesday, with the S&P-500 and the Dow Jones narrowly turning green at the end of the session, while the Nasdaq fell for a third consecutive session, as investors cautiously awaited Nvidia’s quarterly results after the close.
The Dow Jones index gained 0.13% to 38,612.24 points.
The broader S&P-500 gained 0.13% to 4,981.80 points.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.32% to 15,580.87 points.
Already in decline the day before, Nvidia lost 2.85% during the session, despite a turnover over the October-December period which should be more than three times higher than that of the previous quarter under the effect of demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence (AI).
While Nvidia has gained nearly 40% since the start of the year, in the wake of its jump of nearly 240% last year, analysts have warned that its valuation could suffer a heavy setback in the event of results that would not be extraordinary.
Such a scenario could then have the consequence of dampening the enthusiasm around AI and other values associated with it, which contributed to carrying Wall Street after the low of October 2022.
“The markets are looking at Nvidia with a little anxiety, probably, given that (…), for the market to continue its momentum in the short term, we need a positive report” from Nvidia, said commented Jason Ware, chief investment officer at Albion Financial Group in Salt Lake City.
Furthermore, the minutes of the January meeting of the Federal Reserve (Fed), published in the afternoon, show that officials of the American central bank were concerned about the risk of lowering rates prematurely, in a context of uncertainty over the duration of maintaining an ultra-strict monetary policy in the face of inflation. These “minutes” have fueled the hypothesis among traders of a first rate cut next June, not before. Buoyed at the start of the year by optimism about interest rates, Wall Street stalled last week after data on inflation in the United States that was worse than expected dampened hopes of a imminent easing of monetary policy by the Fed.
January inflation data complicates the U.S. central bank’s upcoming rate decisions, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said.
Despite this mixed session, most major sectors of the S&P-500 finished in the green, led by energy. Technologies fell 0.76%.
On the value side, Amazon progressed after the announcement of its entry into the Dow Jones Industrial Average next week, replacing Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Palo Alto Networks plunged 28.44% after reporting lower-than-expected quarterly guidance.
(Written by Jean Terzian)
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