Wall Street's three major indexes closed higher on Tuesday after shares in hotshot chipmaker Nvidia shook off early losses and investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy meeting conclusion on Wednesday for clues on interest rate policy.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 rose 29.09 points, or 0.6%, to end at 5,178.51, its new all-time high. It was the 18th record close for the large-cap benchmark index so far in 2024. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 320.33 points, or 0.83% , to 39,110.76 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 63.34 points, or 0.39%, to 16,166.79.
Market Movers
Nvidia rose 1.1% after the semiconductor company announced at its GTC conference its next-generation chip architecture called Blackwell and related products, including its latest artificial-intelligence chip, the B200. “Generative AI is the defining technology of our time,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said during a keynote address Monday at the conference. “Blackwell GPUs are the engine to power this new industrial revolution. Working with the most dynamic companies in the world, we will realize the promise of AI for every industry.” The stock initially traded lower but rallied as Huang spoke at a financial analyst Q&A session.
Nvidia competitor Advanced Micro Devices was down 4.8%. It was the second-worst performer in the S&P 500 on Tuesday.
Super Micro Computer declined 9% after the maker of servers that help with artificial intelligence applications filed to sell 2 million common shares. The stock fell 6.4% on Monday, its first day as part of the S&P 500.
Fusion Pharmaceuticals, a developer of next-generation radioconjugates, is being acquired by AstraZeneca for $21 a share in cash plus a nontransferable contingent value right of $3 a share in cash. The upfront cash portion of the deal is about $2 billion. The initial price is a 97% premium to Fusion’s closing market price of $10.64 on Monday. AstraZeneca said the acquisition “marks a major step forward in AstraZeneca delivering on its ambition to transform cancer treatment and outcomes for patients by replacing traditional regimens like chemotherapy and radiotherapy with more targeted treatments.” Fusion shares surged 99% to $21.18. AstraZeneca was flat.
Nordstrom rose 9.4% after a report from Reuters said the founding family behind the department-store operator was looking to take it private. The Reuters report cited people familiar with the matter.
International Paper gained 11% after the company named Andrew Silvernail as chief executive, succeeding Mark Sutton, effective May 1. Silvernail comes from private-equity firm KKR, where he served as an executive adviser. International Paper was the S&P 500’s top stock on Tuesday.
Tesla fell 1.4% after the electric-vehicle maker closed Monday with a gain of 6.3%, making it the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 during the session. The shares got a bump Monday from Tesla’s announcement that it would be raising Model Y list prices in the U.S. and Europe.
XPeng reported a fourth-quarter adjusted loss of 28 cents per American depositary share on revenue of $1.84 billion. Gross margin in the period was 6.2%, down from 8.7% a year earlier but improved from negative 2.7% in the third quarter of 2023. XPeng delivered 60,158 vehicles in the fourth quarter, more than doubling from a year earlier. The company said it expects first-quarter deliveries of between 21,000 and 22,500, up from 18,230 a year earlier. U.S.-listed shares of XPeng were up 0.7%.
National CineMedia rose 20% after the in-theater advertising company posted an increase in fourth-quarter profit and said it would be buying back $100 million of stock.
DLocal reported fourth-quarter earnings of 10 cents a share, missing analysts’ estimates of 15 cents. The Uruguay-based cross-border payment platform also named Mark Ortiz as chief financial officer. The stock declined 17%.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said its board approved a 50-to-1 split of its stock and will put the change before shareholders on June 6. The stock, which closed at $2,797.56 in New York trading Tuesday, has gained 74% in the last 12 months. The shares jumped 4.4% at 6:32 p.m. in extended trading.
Market News
Microsoft Hires DeepMind Co-founder to Lead Consumer AI Unit
Microsoft has hired Mustafa Suleyman, a well-known leader and entrepreneur in artificial intelligence, to lead the software giant’s efforts on consumer AI products.
Suleyman helped lead Google’s DeepMind, a pioneering artificial intelligence lab that the company acquired in 2014. He left Google and co-founded AI startup Inflection AI, a startup that was last valued at $4 billion and raised funding from investors including Microsoft and Nvidia. In a post on X, Suleyman said he was stepping down from his position at Inflection AI.
Meta expects first shipments of new Nvidia chips later this year
Facebook owner Meta Platforms expects to receive initial shipments of Nvidia's new flagship artificial intelligence chip later this year, a Meta spokesperson told Reuters.
Nvidia, the dominant designer of GPU (graphics processing unit) chips needed to power most cutting-edge artificial intelligence work, announced the new B200 "Blackwell" chip at its annual developer conference on Monday.
