Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on August 26, 2025 in New York City.
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Stock futures were little changed Thursday investors weighed Nvidia’s latest quarterly results and what they mean for the artificial intelligence trade.
S&P 500 futures traded just below the flatline, while Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 62 points, or 0.1%.
Nvidia – which makes up about 8% of the S&P 500, per FactSet – reported second-quarter results beat Wall Street’s estimates. The stock initially pulled back on weaker-than-expected data center revenue but began to cut losses as investors realized the company’s outlook didn’t include any shipments of its H20 chips to China.
“They didn’t include China in their guide, and some people were hoping there were some China sales in there, maybe a little firmer stance that China sales could get going,” Ben Reitzes, head of technology research at Melius, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The sales of their new Blackwell chip were actually a little below what some folks estimated, because it takes time to ramp that product, but their guidance was really solid.”
“The core growth outside of China was really good,” he added. “There should be more great growth in the fourth quarter, so I think we’re all systems go.”
The stock was last 1.8% lower, well off its overnight lows. Other chipmakers that initially fell began recovering as well. Broadcom even traded slightly higher in the premarket — signaling the AI trade remains in good shape.
“The negative stock reaction feels like a bit of an incorrect knee-jerk reaction,” said David Wagner, head of equity at Aptus Capital Advisors, adding that investors should be “buying the pullback.” “The company is still growing over 50% on their guidance at a $50B quarterly revenue run rate – that’s remarkable, even for the current valuation,” he said.
Several analysts covering Nvidia became even more bullish on Nvidia after the report, raising their price targets on the stock. JPMorgan, Citi and Bernstein were among the Wall Street firms that now see even greater upside for the chipmaker.
The market is coming off a winning session Wednesday. The market is on pace to score a monthly gain as well following Wednesday’s moves, as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are each up more than 2%, while the 30-stock Dow is up more than 3% in the period.
Investors have been shrugging off threats to the Federal Reserve’s independence from the Trump administration after President Donald Trump told Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook that she’s fired earlier this week, a move that Cook plans to legally challenge.
On Wednesday, Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, said that Cook should go on leave from the central bank even with her plans to file a lawsuit.