Walmart gains after raising annual sales, profit forecast
Super Micro surges after auditor appointment
Indexes: Dow down 0.1%, S&P 500 up 0.4%, Nasdaq up 1%
Updates to early afternoon
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq rose about 1% and the S&P 500 also climbed on Tuesday, led by a jump in technology shares as investors eagerly awaited results this week from Nvidia, while Walmart shares advanced after the retailer raised its annual forecasts.
The Dow edged lower.
Nvidia NVDA.O, which reports third-quarter results on Wednesday, rose 3.9% and was the biggest positive on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The technology sector .SPLRCT was up 1.2%.
Other megacap stocks also rose, including Apple AAPL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O.
All three major indexes opened lower and the benchmark index dropped as much as 0.64% after Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks earlier in the day, and Moscow said Ukraine had struck deep inside Russia with U.S.-made long-range missiles.
Stocks pared losses as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow will do everything possible to prevent the breakout of a nuclear war.
"The biggest takeaway today is caution around what's going on in Ukraine. Largely investors are hiding out in some of the megacap names, which is a little bit surprising ahead of Nvidia earnings. But they are highly liquid," said Timothy Chubb, chief investment officer at Girard, a Univest Wealth Division.
Walmart's earnings were upbeat and "seeing some resilience" in the consumer ahead the holidays is a positive, he added.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 78.86 points, or 0.18%, to 43,310.74, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 25.68 points, or 0.44%, to 5,919.3 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 183.44 points, or 0.98%, to 18,975.25.
Investors are also awaiting key cabinet appointments for President-elect Donald Trump's administration.
Walmart WMT.N shares hit a record high and were last up 3.8% at $87.34 after the retailer raised its annual sales and profit forecasts for the third consecutive time.
Super Micro Computer SMCI.O rose 31.7% after the artificial intelligence server maker named BDO USA as its auditor and said it has submitted a plan to the Nasdaq to avoid delisting.
Adding to optimism, Goldman Sachs strategists forecast the S&P 500 would reach 6,500 by the end of 2025.
Walmart earnings https://reut.rs/48VOnCg
(Additional reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli and Richard Chang)
((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))
