4:07pm: Nvidia earnings in focus
US stocks moved higher on Wednesday ahead of Nvidia’s highly anticipated earnings report, seen as a major test for the AI sector.
The Dow Jones led the gains, up 0.3% at 45,565 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both added 0.2%, at 6,481 points and 21,590 points respectively. This marked a new record closing level for the S&P 500.
Also reporting afterhours is cloud-based platform Snowflake.
3:42pm: Proactive news headlines
- Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd (TSX-V:SPA, OTC:SPAZF) announced it has closed its previously announced brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately C$7.2 million.
- Nevis Brands (CSE:NEVI, OTCQB:NEVIF) announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with JBS Technologies NM LLC, doing business as Stash House NM, to produce and distribute its Major cannabis beverages in New Mexico.
- U.S. Gold Corp (NASDAQ:USAU) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Gold King Corp, has signed an engineering and procurement contract with Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Company (CLFP), a subsidiary of Black Hills Corp, for the CK Gold Project in southeast Wyoming.
- Sonoro Gold Corp (TSX-V:SGO, OTCQB:SMOFF) announced that it is increasing the size of its previously announced, non-brokered private placement in response to investor demand.
- American Resources Corp (NASDAQ:AREC)’ subsidiary ReElement Technologies has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Principal Mineral to develop an integrated rare earth separation and metal production capability in the United States.
- Lancaster Resources Inc (CSE:LCR, OTCQB:LANRF) announced that it has completed its acquisition of a 100% interest in the Lac Iris polymetallic project in Quebec’s James Bay region, following approval from the Québec mining authority, Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MRNF).
- NanoViricides (NYSE-A:NNVC) has highlighted the potential of its broad-spectrum antiviral NV-387 to address emerging COVID variants as cases of the new “Stratus” strain climb in California.
- C3 Metals Inc (TSX-V:CCCM, OTC:CARCF) announced it has hired Peru’s AK Drilling International SA to begin a minimum of 6,000 metres of diamond core drilling at its 100%-owned Khaleesi copper-gold project in Peru.
- Thor Explorations Ltd (TSX-V:THX, AIM:THX, OTC:THXPF) has reported further positive assays from its maiden drilling at its wholly-owned Guitry gold project in Côte d’Ivoire.
3:02pm: Market movers
- Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) shares moved higher after the bank reported strong earnings for the fiscal third quarter, including record net income.
- Canada Goose Holdings Inc (NYSE:GOOS, TSX:GOOS)’s US-listed shares climbed more than 14% in late-morning trading on Wednesday after CNBC reported that the luxury apparel retailer’s controlling shareholder, Bain Capital, has received bids to take the company private, citing unnamed sources.
- American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE:AEO) shares added almost 5% on Wednesday after the clothing retailer launched its new back-to-school campaign featuring NFL star Travis Kelce.
- MongoDB Inc (NASDAQ:MDB) shares surged more than 32% as the document database reported strong second quarter earnings and raised its full year revenue and profit guidance, driven by demand for its Atlas cloud database service.
- Kohl's Corporation (NYSE:KSS) shares surged more than 23% in early Wednesday trading after the Wisconsin-based department store chain reported second quarter 2025 financial results that exceeded analyst estimates on the both the top and bottom lines.
- Hochschild Mining PLC (LSE:HOC, OTCQX:HCHDF) shares fell almost 15% to a two-month low as the precious metals miner cut its guidance for the year due to work at its Mara Rosa mine in Brazil.
1:24pm: Nvidia investment 'not on the table'
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday dismissed the notion that the US government would take an ownership stake in semiconductor company Nvidia.
"I don't think Nvidia needs financial support, so that seems not on the table right now," he told Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria" program.
Bessent did, however, suggest the US government could make investments in other industries.
"Could there be other industries where we're reshaping, something like shipbuilding? Sure, there could be things like that," the Treasury Secretary added.
On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration is exploring the possibility of acquiring equity stakes in US defense companies. Last week, the administration acquired a near-10% equity interest in Intel.
11:55am: Countdown to Nvidia
US stocks edged higher as investors awaited Nvidia’s earnings after the closing bell.
Nvidia’s report is considered a key gauge of global demand and confidence in AI with analysts expecting a 37% jump in second-quarter earnings, IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph highlighted.
“Beyond the numbers, markets will be paying close attention to CEO Jensen Huang’s outlook on AI revenue growth, amid mounting concerns about stretched tech valuations and the impact of US-China trade restrictions,” Rudolph said.
10:18am: What to expect from Nvidia
Nvidia is set to report its second quarter results amid expectations of robust growth across its data center and compute segments, according to analysts at UBS.
For Q2, UBS analysts project revenue of $46 billion, marking roughly a $1 billion beat over the previous quarter.
Investors will be watching closely for Nvidia's guidance, especially around China and H20-related revenue, the analysts noted.
For Q3, UBS expects Nvidia to guide revenue to $54 billion to $55 billion excluding China, or potentially as high as $57 billion if Chinese sales are included.
UBS expects Nvidia’s compute segment to grow roughly 20% to 25% quarter-over-quarter from a $35 billion base in Q2, which could add $7 billion to $8 billion in revenue for Q3, highlighting strong momentum for the company’s AI-focused chips.
While networking revenue faces potential constraints due to shortages in 800G, UBS still forecasts approximately $6 billion for Q3, up nearly $1 billion sequentially. Taken together, this suggests total data center revenue could reach approximately $49 billion.
Gaming revenue, by contrast, may face tougher comparisons following a particularly strong first quarter.
China remains a more uncertain factor, with some customers reportedly discouraged from buying H20 GPUs, though UBS notes that Nvidia placed new Hopper wafer orders following license approvals.
9:55am: Russell 2000 leads gains
Wall Street is mixed in early trade, with the Dow Jones up 126 points or 0.3% and the Nasdaq down 0.3%, while the S&P 500 is basically flat.
The small-cap Russell 2000 is up 0.6%.
Dow risers are led by UnitedHealth and Salesforce, while on the Nasdaq, Nvidia is down 0.8% and fallers outnumber the risers among big tech
7:35am: Futures flat as Nvidia pre-earnings caution
Wall Street futures were circumspect ahead of Wednesday's opening bell, as investors braced for Nvidia earnings after the close that many feel are all-important.
Futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were all less than 0.1% above where they finished yesterday.
The previous session saw the tech-powered Nasdaq and S&P both finish up 0.4%, while the Dow climbed 0.3%.
European stock indexes were mixed in the early hours, with London's FTSE 100 hugging the floor, Germany's DAX down a tad as investors react to the latest GfK consumer survey coming in below expectations at its lowest level since March.
In Asia earlier, the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.8% and 1.3%, with analysts citing potential profit-taking as investors consider implications from Nvidia’s earnings release after the US close.
India’s Nifty 50 dropped 1% as Donald Trump's US 50% tariff on Indian exports kicked in.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent repeated Trump's criticisms of India's "profiteering" from its sharply increased purchases of Russian oil and but stated that he thought a trade deal with India will be agreed.
"At the end of the day, I think we will come together with India," he said.
In company news, MongoDB Inc (NASDAQ:MDB) surged over 30% in after-hours trading on the back of earnings and guidance that topped Wall Street expectations.
The "main event" is likely comes after the close, with earnings from Nvidia largely wrapping up the second quarter US earnings season, said market analyst Josh Mahony at Rostro.
Following an incredible rise, which has taken the company first to a $1 trillion valuation and then over $4 trillion market cap in just two years, Mahony says markets "are constantly second guessing when this gravy train will come to a halt" but Nvidia's ability to consistently beat market earnings expectations has helped drive the stock on its upward trajectory.
"This time around there will be plenty of focus on both the backwards looking data, but also a significant focus on how the company sees the second half of 2025," he said.
"While Trump has allowed the export of H20 chips (with a 15% tax), the Chinese government have ensured that companies look elsewhere.
"As such, a significant focus will be on how Nvidia plans to overcome this hurdle by developing a new chip for the Chinese market.
"Meanwhile, traders will be watching closely for updates on demand for the Blackwell chips, with the company expecting this new product will provide a fresh source of demand going forward."