LIVE MARKETS-Louder than bombs: Nvidia optimism soothes Wall Street's geopolitical jitters

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LOUDER THAN BOMBS: NVIDIA OPTIMISM SOOTHES WALL STREET'S GEOPOLITICAL JITTERS

Wall Street ended mostly higher as investors appeared to largely shrug off a potential escalation to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Tech stocks .SPLRCT put the Nasdaq over the +1% mark, with megacap growth stocks also boosting the S&P 500 into green territory.

The blue-chip Dow, however, lost ground on the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 120.66 points, or 0.28%, to 43,268.94, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 23.34 points, or 0.40%, to 5,916.98 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 195.66 points, or 1.04%, to 18,987.47.

Ukraine marked its 1,000th day of Russia's invasion by launching U.S.-made missiles into Russian territory, taking quick advantage of President Biden's permission to do so, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to lower the bar for potential use of nuclear weapons.

While the escalation scared many investors away from equities and toward safe-haven assets, those fears appeared to ease as the session progressed.

Walmart WMT.N helped matters by hiking its annual sales and profit forecasts due to high volume and growing market share, sounding an upbeat note just as the holiday shopping season steps up to the starting gate.

Lowe's LOW.N results, while beating estimates due to hurricane-related demand, were more muted as big-ticket spending was constrained.

Target TGT.N and Deere DE.N are two high profile companies yet to post quarterly earnings this week, but the lot of them are likely to be handily eclipsed by Nvidia NVDA.O.

Nvidia, the AI darling, is expected to post an 85.7% year-over-year adjusted EPS surge on soaring demand for its chips, and markets will be parsing the company's results for insight as to how far the AI gravy train will take them.

The company's stock gained a robust 4.9% on the day.

Other winners included the FANG group of momentum stocks .NYFANG, and airlines .SPCOMAIR, which advanced 1.8% and 1.9%, respectively.

On the economic front, while hurricane season dented housing starts, elevated mortgage rates and a supply glut of new homes on the market suggest that the homebuilding segment of the housing market is facing headwinds that aren't related to the weather.

Later this week, mortgage data and existing home sales will shed further light on the housing market.

Here's your closing snapshot:

(Stephen Culp)

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