4:20pm: Peace hopes lift stocks
The Dow closed at another record high on Thursday as investors grew more optimistic that tensions in the Middle East could ease, helping steady energy markets and calm some recent volatility.
The Dow climbed 276 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 50,286, while the S&P 500 added 0.2% to 7,446 and the Nasdaq edged up 0.1% to 26,293.
Stocks spent much of the session swinging between gains and losses as traders reacted to headlines surrounding potential US-Iran peace negotiations. Hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough helped cool concerns about oil supply disruptions, leading to fluctuations in energy prices throughout the day.
Treasury yields also stabilized after recent sharp moves higher, giving equities some breathing room. Investors were additionally encouraged by relatively steady labor market data, which helped reinforce expectations that the economy remains resilient despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.
The broader market rebound, however, masked some weakness in technology shares. AI-related momentum cooled, weighing on the Nasdaq and several major chipmakers.
Nvidia closed 1.8% lower despite delivering another blockbuster quarter. The chip giant reported revenue surged 85% year-over-year to $81.6 billion, while adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.87, both ahead of analyst forecasts. Investors nevertheless appeared underwhelmed after the company’s outlook failed to exceed some of the market’s most aggressive expectations.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin held above the $77,000 level as institutional investors continued rotating into digital assets amid shifting market sentiment.
3:40pm: Proactive news headlines
- Tiziana Life Sciences Ltd (NASDAQ:TLSA) completed patient enrollment in its Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating intranasal foralumab for non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, marking a major milestone for the company’s lead drug candidate.
- Montero Mining and Exploration Ltd (TSX-V:MON, OTC:MXTRF) welcomed proposed amendments to Chile’s Mining Code that could reduce concession fee pressures and improve exploration economics for junior mining companies.
- Gunnison Copper Corp (TSX:GCU, OTCQB:GCUMF, FRA:3XS0) reported a profitable first quarter as it advanced development of its Arizona copper assets, expanded collaboration efforts with Rio Tinto and Amazon Web Services, and continued ramp-up activities at Johnson Camp Mine.
- 374Water Inc (NASDAQ:SCWO, FRA:8LL) said strong interest from industry conferences throughout May reinforced demand for its AirSCWO technology used in organic waste destruction.
- Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd (TSX-V:RECO, OTCQX:RECAF, FRA:0XD) said production testing at its Kavango West 1X discovery well in Namibia remains on track to begin before the end of May as appraisal work in the Kavango Basin advances.
- VivoPower PLC (NASDAQ:VIVO, FRA:51J) said it has shortlisted prospective AI operator tenants for its Mo i Rana data center in northern Norway following a competitive request for proposal process.
- Nextech3D.AI (CSE:NTAR, OTCQX:NEXCF, FRA:1SS) said its Nextech Event Solutions division will serve as lead sponsor and speaker at an EMRG Media event in New York City, where it plans to showcase its Krafty Labs Experience Marketplace platform.
2:30pm: Market movers
- Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD) shares dipped after earnings despite the chipmaker posting record quarterly revenue and stronger-than-expected guidance, prompting several Wall Street analysts to raise their price targets on the stock.
- Workday Inc (NASDAQ:WDAY) is preparing to report first-quarter earnings as investors assess slowing growth, uncertainty around its AI strategy, and its ability to maintain long-term targets following leadership changes and the return of CEO Aneel Bhusri.
- Critical Metals shares gained after the company signed a 15-year binding offtake agreement with REalloys tied to rare earth concentrate production from its Tanbreez Project in Greenland.
- Williams-Sonoma reported first-quarter revenue that slightly exceeded expectations as comparable sales growth across its brands reflected continued demand for premium home furnishings.
- Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) shares surged after the luxury apparel maker posted quarterly revenue and earnings that topped analyst expectations, signaling resilient consumer demand despite tariff concerns.
- Deere & Company (NYSE:DE, XETRA:DCO) delivered quarterly sales and profit ahead of Wall Street expectations even as weaker agricultural equipment demand continued to pressure its core farm machinery operations.
- Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT, XETRA:WMT) shares fell after the retailer reported strong first-quarter revenue growth but issued softer-than-expected forward guidance that weighed on investor sentiment.
- International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) shares jumped after the White House backed a new quantum chip manufacturing venture with $1 billion in funding, alongside a matching investment from the company.
- Gunnison Copper Corp (TSX:GCU, OTCQB:GCUMF, FRA:3XS0)reported a profitable first quarter as it advanced development of its Arizona copper assets, expanded collaboration efforts with Rio Tinto and Amazon Web Services, and continued ramp-up activities at Johnson Camp Mine.
- Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU, XETRA:ITU) shares dropped sharply despite better-than-expected quarterly results as investors reacted to a weaker long-term outlook for TurboTax and plans to reduce its workforce by about 17%.
12:50pm: Analysts still bullish on Nvidia
UBS, Bank of America, Wedbush and Baird all raised price targets on Nvidia following its earnings, ranging from $280 to $500, citing Nvidia's dominant AI infrastructure positioning, a 25-fold dividend increase, and new Vera CPU disclosure pointing to a $200 billion addressable market.
Baird was the most bullish, setting a $500 target and flagging Nvidia's lowest P/E in the AI super-compute space, while UBS was the most measured, cautioning that HBM4E memory costs could pressure margins in fiscal 2028.
Key risks flagged include HBM memory cost inflation, hyperscaler appetite for custom chips, and limited room for multiple expansion given Nvidia's 8.3% weighting in the S&P 500.
12:00pm: IBM gets quantum boost
Shares in International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) jumped 6.4% on Thursday after the White House agreed to support a new quantum chip manufacturing venture with $1 billion of funding.
The Department of Commerce confirmed it had signed a letter of intent to back the creation of Anderon, a standalone company that will build what it described as America’s first “pure-play quantum foundry”. IBM will match the government funding with a further $1 billion cash investment.
The agreement is part of the US CHIPS program, which aims to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing and reduce reliance on overseas supply chains.
11:05am: Nvidia down, but ignore the noise
Shares of Nvidia were down over 2% on Thursday despite topping Wall Street expectations and forecasting second-quarter revenue above consensus.
The company reported record first-quarter revenue of US$81.6 billion, up 85% year-on-year.
Investors should ignore the stock decline, according to analysts at Bank of America, as it has happened after three of the last four earnings calls.
Analysts highliglhted full-stack AI dominance in a market projected to reach $3tn by 2030, best-in-class gross margins of 75% and free cash flow of 48%, a dividend boosted 25x, and a $120bn buyback.
Bank of America raised its FY27/28 EPS estimates by 9-15% and lifted its price target to $350.
10am: Nasdaq opens lower, but IBM lifts Dow
Wall Street tech stocks led an early retreat, but after less than half an hour, the Dow Jones was in green.
The Nasdaq started with a fall of 0.6%, with the biggest fallers including Intuit, Workday, Atlassian, Adobe and Autodesk as investors rotated out of higher-growth software stocks
The S&P 500 dropped 0.3% and the Dow 0.2%, before a sizeable climb for IMB turned this around.
This followed news that the Trump administration had agreed to take $2 billion in equity stakes across nine quantum-computing companies, including a new IBM venture.
IBM and the US Department of Commerce announced a letter of intent to build an American quantum chip foundry, "securing the nation’s global quantum leadership and fueling the country’s growing quantum ecosystem".
IBM said the CHIPS incentive from the DoC "will support the research and development efforts of a new IBM company: Anderon, which will be America's first pure-play quantum foundry".
8.15am: Wall Street futures search for direction
The direction for US stocks on Thursday was constantly shifting ahead of the opening bell, as overnight optimism over US-Iran negotiations and another blockbuster quarter for Nvidia were not enough to set a clear path.
Futures pointed down in the early hours, turned green and then back to red, wth the latest being that Nasdaq futures were down 0.5%, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both predicted to fall around 0.3%.
Shares in Nvidia, the $5.4 trillion market chip behemoth, were down 0.2% in pre-market trading despite what analysts called a "monster" quarter, where revenues, earnings and guidance all rose more than expected.
A rebound in US oil prices and government borrowing costs pointed to the cause of the small retreat.
WTI crude, having fallen from almost $108 earlier in the week to below $98 overnight, climbed back above $100 a barrel.
US 10yr Treasury note yields also rebounded above 4.6%, and the dollar index rose 0.1%.
This is "amid struggling US negotiations with Iran to end the war", said analyst John Canavan at Oxford Economics.
Yesterday, President Trump said that the US was in the “final stages” of a possible draft deal to end the conflict, with Iran's foreign ministry confirming that Tehran was reviewing Washington’s latest response, shared via mediator Pakistan.
"Now, we have been here before," said market analyst Kenny Polcari at Slatestone. "Until there is an actual agreement signed, sealed, structured and enforceable, and the Strait reopens with ‘no strings attached’, this whole story is not over – but we can remain hopeful."
The lack of reaction to Nvidia's earnings is the other story of the morning, Polcari said, as it showed how "extraordinary has become the expectation".
"When a company delivers one of the greatest earnings runs in market history and the stock barely moves, the market is telling you something. Expectations are stretched. Positioning is crowded. Perfection has already been priced in."
In other company news, SpaceX filed its prospectus for a potential $1.75 trillion stock market listing, which contained several items not normally found in an IPO prospectus, including a detailed discussion of asteroid mining and Moon factories.
After a slow week of economic data, the calendar will pick up today, with the release of the weekly jobless claims figures, the May Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, and April housing starts reports just after the open, followed by the May S&P Global services and manufacturing figures just ahead of mid-morning.