Wall Street's benchmarks finished up on Tuesday, recouping some of the previous session's losses, as investors bought back in to technology stocks and investors shifted their focus to upcoming inflation data and the start of third-quarter earnings season.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 rose 55.19 points, or 0.97%, to 5,751.13 points, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 259.01 points, or 1.45%, to 18,182.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 126.13 points, or 0.30%, to 42,080.37.
Market Movers
Nvidia - Nvidia stock rose Tuesday after its partners Foxconn and Super Micro Computer reiterated strong demand for its artificial-intelligence Blackwell chips. The shares jumped 4.1% to $132.89, its highest close since July 10. Shares have risen for five consecutive days, its longest winning streak since August.
Super Micro Computer - Super Micro Computer fell 5% after jumping 16% on Monday and finishing as the top stock in the S&P 500 during the session. The server maker said it has deployedmore than 100,000 GPUswith liquid cooling solution for some of the largest artificial intelligence factories ever built. Barron’s estimates that amounts to billions of dollars in orders.
Chinese ADRs - U.S.-listed shares of Bilibili dropped 12.9%, NIO tumbled 8.1%, and Alibaba was down 6.7% after Beijing disappointed investors by not announcing specifics on further stimulus measures on Tuesday, sending shares of Chinese companies sharply lower.
Alphabet - Alphabet was up 0.9%. The Department of Justice is expected to file a framework forpotential remedieson Tuesday following a federal judge’s ruling in August that Alphabet-owned Google had an illegal monopoly in general search services and general text advertising.
Pepsi - PepsiCo reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.31 a share, squeaking past estimates, as revenue of $23.3 billion came up short of expectations. The company also lowered full-year guidance. Shares of the beverages and snacks maker rose 1.9%.
Roblox - Roblox fell 2.1% after short-seller Hindenburg Research said the videogame platform has beeninflating daily user and engagement figures. Roblox said that it “totally” rejects the “claims made in the report. The financial claims made by Hindenburg Research are simply misleading. The authors are, admittedly short sellers (and have an agenda irrespective of the substance of Roblox’ business model and results).” Roblox said it was a “safe and secure platform and in the financial metrics we report.”
Docusign - DocuSign rose 6.6%. S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the stock would be added to the S&P MidCap 400 before the opening of trading on Friday. DocuSign, which makes software for collecting electronic signatures, will replace MDU Resources Group in the index.
Affirm - Affirm jumped 6.6% to $41.15 after analysts at BTIG upgraded shares of the Buy Now, Pay Later company to Buy from Neutral and assigned a target price on the stock of $68.
Las Vegas Sands, Wynn - Las Vegas Sands fell 2.8% and Wynn Resorts declined 3.3% as shares of the casino companies, which have operations in Macau, a special administrative region of China, tumbled following disappointment over China’s stimulus.
General Motors - General Motors was flat. The auto maker’s 2024investor daybegan at 1:45 p.m. Eastern time. Analysts expect updated investment and profitability plans for the company’s electric-vehicle business, while investors will listen for plans for capital returns to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks.
Qualcomm - Qualcomm fell 0.4%. Analysts at KeyBanc downgraded the chip maker to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target.
Market News
Nvidia Touts Energy Efficiency of Chips at Washington Summit
Nvidia Corp., facing concerns about the electricity demands of artificial intelligence computing, touted the energy efficiency of its latest chips at a conference Tuesday in Washington.
The company’s Blackwell chips, which are beginning to roll out to customers this year, would need 3 gigawatts of power to develop OpenAI’s GPT-4 software, Nvidia said at an event called the AI Summit DC. Ten years ago, that process would have required 5,500 gigawatts, the chipmaker said.
“Our Blackwell platform is basically built with energy efficiency in mind,” Nvidia Vice President Bob Pette said at a briefing ahead of the event.
The Santa Clara, California-based company also pointed to its headway in software. That includes producing “agent blueprints” that will let businesses rapidly deploy customized AI services. Agents are pieces of software that handle real-world tasks, such as dealing with customer requests, aiding in the design of a device or speeding up drug discovery.
S&P Places Boeing's Rating on CreditWatch Negative as Strike Drags on
Global ratings agency S&P said on Tuesday it had placed Boeing's rating on CreditWatch negative as about 33,000 of the U.S. planemaker's workers remain on strike, halting production of its best-selling jets.
The union, whose members have now been on strike for 26 days, is seeking a 40% pay rise over four years and the restoration of a defined-benefit pension that was taken away in the contract a decade ago.
The ratings agency estimates that Boeing will incur a cash outflow of about $10 billion in 2024 and will likely require incremental funding.
S&P's CreditWatch listing reflects the increased likelihood of a downgrade if the strike continues, increasing costs and delaying the company's recovery in aircraft production and cash flow generation.