NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Wednesday, as a rebound in chip stocks ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly results lifted sentiment after a recent selloff driven by rising bond yields and inflation concerns.
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company and the centerpiece of the global AI boom, rose 2 percent. The company’s results are expected after the closing bell.
Investors will crunch the numbers for signs that appetite for AI infrastructure remains strong enough to support lofty valuations across the technology and AI space.
The broader chip sector also advanced on Wednesday. Marvell Technology rose 7.8 percent, Intel gained 6.3 percent and Micron Technology added 3.6 percent.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index advanced 2.9 percent.
“Nvidia’s earnings come at just the right time when the market needs some reassurance that the promise of AI can overpower the headwind of rising bond yields,” said James Demmert, chief investment officer at Main Street Research.
“The sticking points in Nvidia’s earnings report are any signs of margin compression due to rising memory prices, along with how the company is navigating sales in China.”
US stocks have come under pressure in recent days as a selloff in global bond markets drove yields higher. Traders were expecting the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at the turn of the year as the conflict in the Middle East pushes oil prices higher, reviving inflation worries.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield, which touched a 16-month high of 4.687 percent in the previous session, eased to 4.588 percent on Wednesday.
Brent crude futures extended losses on the day, falling 5.6 percent to USD105.13 after US President Donald Trump said that negotiations with Iran were in the final stages, though investors remain wary about the outcome of peace talks as disruption to Middle Eastern supply continues.
At 11:51 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 529.35 points, or 1.08 percent, to 49,894.89, the S&P 500 gained 72.83 points, or 0.99 percent, to 7,426.44 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 359.73 points, or 1.39 percent, to 26,230.44.
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