Bagging a $3 trillion market cap price-tag for the first time that leaves it second only to Microsoft following a 147% stock surge this year, Nvidia hit new highs and pulled all the AI complex of firms up with it.
Part of the latest scramble is because Nvidia is preparing to split its stock ten-for-one, effective on Friday, and those holding stock at the market close today will qualify for nine additional shares in the chip group.
In a possible shot across the bows, however, the New York Times reported that the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have reached a deal that allows them to proceed with antitrust investigations into the dominant roles that Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia play in the AI industry.
Other earnings-related surges included gains of more than 10% on Wednesday for cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, with the latter flagging strong demand for its AI servers.
But the tech fizz wasn’t just on Wall Street. Shares in Dutch chip equipment giant ASML also climbed after reports it was nearing an agreement with Taiwan’s TSMC
on providing it with its most advanced machines later this year.
Aided by ECB rate cut optimism, European stocks gained almost 1% on Thursday – with its tech sector up 2% to its highest since December 2000 and German software leader SAP up 4.5%.
In a well-flagged move, the ECB is expected to cut borrowing costs by 25 basis points from 4% and President Christine Lagarde’s remarks on the trajectory from here will now be in focus. Money markets are pricing in 64 bps of cuts this year – suggesting possibly two more after today.
With European Parliament elections kicking off in the background, European government bond yields were steady ahead of the ECB decision.
Stocks were higher across Asia too, with Taiwan outperforming with gains of almost 2% on the tech buzz and mainland China underperforming yet again in the red.
