US STOCKS-Wall St rises as chip stocks rally ahead of Nvidia results

Wall Street's ​main indexes rallied on Wednesday, rebounding from a three-day selloff with a ‌boost ​from chip stocks, which rose ahead of Nvidia's quarterly results. Shares in leading artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia , the world's most valuable company, rose 1.8% ahead of its quarterly results, due after the closing bell. Investors will crunch the numbers for signs that appetite for AI infrastructure remains strong enough to support lofty ‌valuations across the technology and AI space.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index advanced 3.9% and some of its biggest gainers included Astera Labs, up more than 16%, and ARM Holdings U.S. shares, which rose more than 13%. "Technology is driving the bus again today, and the AI theme. We've swapped back from yesterday's concerns about rising rates and potential inflation and are leaning more into the all-things-AI story," said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private ‌Wealth in Minneapolis. "It's actually a little bit unusual because you would expect the market to sit pretty quiet waiting for Nvidia's results later today. But there's clearly a lot of optimism."

The lack of ‌a resolution to the Iran war sent U.S. indexes lower in the last three days as investors worried that elevated oil prices will boost inflation. On Wednesday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said the exchange of messages between Iran and the U.S. has continued. President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran were in the final stages and that the U.S. may have to attack Iran even harder but would wait and see if they can reach a deal.

While investors are still monitoring fluctuating energy prices and inflation, Schleif ⁠said "they really want ​to look beyond what's going on in the Middle ⁠East" and focus on the potential of AI. Also supporting stocks, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield eased to about 4.58% on Wednesday after rising for three straight days and touching a 16-month high.

At 2:31 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 596.66 points, or ⁠1.21%, to 49,960.54, the S&P 500 gained 68.57 points, or 0.93%, to 7,422.18 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 348.38 points, or 1.35%, to 26,219.09. Stocks held steady after the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed a ​growing number of officials saying the central bank should lay the groundwork for a possible rate hike. Bets for a Federal Reserve rate hike in December dipped slightly to a 38.5% probability ⁠from 42% on Tuesday, according to the latest data from CME Group's FedWatch tool.

But citing uncertainty around issues such as oil prices, tariffs and AI, Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management, said after the minutes that "it's hard to take any of their forward ⁠guidance ​as more than just mere guesswork." Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors traded higher, led by consumer discretionary, up 2.2%, and technology , which added 1.6%.

On the flip side, energy dropped 2.3% as oil prices fell, while consumer staples slipped 0.9%. Target shares fell 5.7%, weighing on staples, after the big-box retailer warned of a challenging macroeconomic backdrop even as it doubled its annual sales-growth forecast. Shares in retail bellwether ⁠Walmart, expected to report quarterly results on Thursday, were down 2.2%.

Among other movers, airline stocks were broadly higher amid falling oil prices, with Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air up between ⁠around 7% and 11%. Intuit shares declined 3.9%. Reuters, citing ⁠an internal memo, reported that the company is laying off about 3,000 employees.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.13-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 159 new highs and 108 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 3,545 stocks rose and 1,178 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.01-to-1 ratio. The ‌S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs ‌and 15 new lows.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)