The U.S. stock market rose, led by Nvidia's 1.6% climb after Meta Platforms announced a major partnership for AI chips, highlighting AI's market influence despite investor worries about high spending and industry disruption.
The U.S. stock market advanced on Wednesday, primarily driven by Nvidia, which saw its stock jump 1.6% following Meta Platforms' announcement of a long-term partnership to utilize millions of Nvidia's chips for its AI data centers. Nvidia's status as Wall Street's most valuable company made its performance a significant factor in lifting the S&P 500. While this demonstrated AI's potential upside for the market, investors also focused on rising concerns, such as the massive spending by companies like Meta on AI development and the risk of AI technologies undercutting other industries like software and legal services. Elsewhere, strong profit reports from companies like Cadence Design Systems (+7.6%) and Analog Devices (+2.6%) boosted stocks, along with Moderna's 6.1% rise on a positive flu vaccine review. However, Palo Alto Networks dropped 6.8% due to disappointing future profit forecasts. All major U.S. indices — the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq composite — closed higher. In the bond market, Treasury yields increased after better-than-expected U.S. economic reports on industrial production, durable goods orders, and housing starts, suggesting the Federal Reserve might delay interest rate cuts. Minutes from the Fed's latest meeting indicated officials want to see further inflation decline before supporting rate reductions. International markets also saw gains, with London's FTSE 100 climbing on UK inflation data and Japan's Nikkei 225 rising after a prime minister reappointment.
