MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Most Asian shares surged on Thursday after Nvidia reported stronger than expected quarterly earnings, soothing worries that AI-driven stock prices may have shot too high.
U.S. futures and oil prices were higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index initially surged as much as 4.2% before giving up some early gains. By early afternoon, it was up 2.6% at 49,801.81 as technology stocks rallied, with investor sentiment boosted by Nvidia's report of $57 billion in quarterly revenue after trading closed in the U.S., significantly above expectations.
South Korea’s Kospi added 3% to 4,047.57, with gains led by technology and energy stocks. Investors were encouraged by Nvidia's earnings and reports that the U.S. may delay planned semiconductor tariffs.
Samsung Electronics gained 6.1%, while SK Hynix added 3.5%.
Chinese markets saw more modest gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged 0.1% higher to 25,867.87, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.4% to 3,961.71. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 3.2%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 8,546.10, also led by gains for technology stocks.
On Wednesday, the U.S. stock market swung through another unsettled day of trading, ahead of a couple of crucial tests for Wall Street.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% after veering between a small loss and a leap of 1.1% earlier in the day. That broke a four-day losing streak, the longest in nearly three months for the index, which has been shaking because of worries that stock prices have shot too high and that the Federal Reserve may not deliver as many cuts to interest rates as expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 47 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.6%.
Constellation Energy led the market and rallied 5.3% after the U.S. Department of Energy said it’s lending $1 billion to help restart Constellation’s nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island. Lowe’s rose 4% after the home-improvement retailer reported a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected.
They helped offset a 2.8% drop for Target, which reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also hinted that challenges may continue through the critical holiday shopping season.
The market’s focus, though, remained on Nvidia. Wall Street’s most influential stock climbed 2.8% as traders made their final moves ahead of the chip company’s latest profit report, which arrived after trading finished for the day. Nvidia surged 5.1% in after-hours trading.
Nvidia is now the largest stock on Wall Street, having briefly topped $5 trillion in value. That means its movements have more of an effect on the S&P 500 than any other stock, and it can single-handedly steer the index’s direction some days.
One way Nvidia can quiet criticism that it shot too high, which has dragged its stock down by roughly 10% from late last month, is to keep delivering bigger profits. That’s because stock prices tend to track profits over the long term.
Nvidia has become a bellwether for the broader frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, because other companies are using its chips to ramp up their AI efforts
Traders also made their final moves ahead of a September jobs report coming from the U.S. government on Thursday.
The job market has been slowing enough this year that the Fed has already cut its main interest rate twice. Lower rates can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, and the expectation on Wall Street had been for more cuts, including at the Fed’s next meeting in December.
But some Fed officials are hinting that they should pause next month, in part because inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target. Lower interest rates can worsen inflation.
In other dealings on Thursday, US benchmark crude oil added 16 cents to $59.41 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged 16 cents higher to $63.67 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 157.32 Japanese yen from 157.15 yen. it has been trading at nearly the highest level this year on expectations that the government will delay efforts to rein in Japan's national debt as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises spending to help spur the economy.
The euro fell to $1.1520 from $1.1538.
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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.