US open: Stocks snap four-day sell-off ahead of Nvidia earnings

(Sharecast News) - US stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday morning, though sentiment was far from positive as investors remained nervous ahead of crucial results from chip giant Nvidia, which are seen by many as the risk event of the quarter.

The Dow opened flat, but the S&P 500 gained 0.5% and the Nasdaq rose 1.0%. All three indices have faced heavy selling pressure over the past four trading sessions, with the Dow in particular slumping 4.5% after hitting a record high last week.

The sell-off was largely attributed to heightened uncertainty surrounding Nvidia's third-quarter earnings, due after the close on Wednesday, with expectations already sky-high for the chip giant to impress the market.

"The giant AI chip designer now accounts for around 7% of the value of the S&P 500 by market capitalisation. So, what happens tonight looks likely to influence sentiment in global equities as we head towards the year-end," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.

Before Nvidia's results, however, markets will get to see the minutes from the October Federal Open Market Committee meeting as speculation builds around what policymakers will do at their next meeting. Building permits and housing starts data for October is also due for release.

On Thursday, the delayed September non-farm payrolls report will finally be out, amid increasing concerns that the expected lack of an October payrolls report may prompt the Fed to tread carefully on 9-10 December.

In economic news, US mortgage applications fell by 5.2% last week following a 0.6% gain the month before, as 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates rose to 6.37% from 6.34%.

Market movers

Nvidia shares were up 3% early on Wednesday, rebounding after having dropped more than 10% since the start of the month (as of Tuesday's close). Markets are expecting big things from the company, while forward guidance will be closely watched given the $500bn pipeline of AI chip orders flagged by chief executive Jensen Huang last month.

"Deeply correlated stocks such as Palantir, TSMC, Super Micro, CoreWeave, Nebius, plus the entire industrial-AI complex are on the hook...look to Meta as the bellwether after having crossed below its 200-day SMA and kept cratering," said Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets. Meta, down 1% on Wednesday, has dropped more than 21% over the past three weeks alone.

Target Corporation was flat after posting a bigger-than-expected fall in quarterly sales, as US shoppers pulled back on discretionary spending. The big box chain saw total comparable sales fall 2.7% over the three months to 1 November.

In contrast, DIY chain Lowe's gained despite trimmed its full-year earnings forecast, as it posted a jump in quarterly sales.