London (AFP) – Stock markets rallied on Thursday after bumper earnings from chip titan Nvidia eased fears of an AI bubble and overshadowed a mixed US jobs report. All three major Wall Street indices jumped at the open, following gains in Europe and Asia. Investors cheered an earnings report from AI bellwether Nvidia, released after US markets closed Wednesday, which topped expectations on fierce demand for its advanced chips. Chief executive Jensen Huang also brushed off fears of an artificial intelligence bubble that had recently caused global equities to wobble.
“Nvidia’s results have completely changed the market mood and pushed out any bubble fears for another day,” said Jim Reid, managing director at Deutsche Bank. Shares in the chipmaker — which last month became the world’s first $5 trillion stock — rose around four percent on Thursday. The upbeat report overshadowed a delayed US September jobs report, which showed that hiring exceeded analyst expectations while the jobless rate crept up. Due to the record-long government shutdown, Thursday’s figures were the last official major labour market data released ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting in December. Minutes from the Fed’s October policy meeting, released Wednesday, suggested officials are against cutting rates for the third time in a row next month.
“For as much focus as this jobs report garnered… it’s being overshadowed by Nvidia’s blowout earnings results,” said eToro US investment analyst Bret Kenwell. London, Paris, and Frankfurt all advanced on Thursday after a largely positive session in Asia, which saw Japan surge nearly three percent. Tech stocks led the gains in Asia. South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix, Taiwan’s TSMC, and Japanese investment giant SoftBank all enjoyed a strong day.
In company news, shares in US retail giant Walmart rose around four percent after it reported higher quarterly revenue and raised its outlook.
**Key figures at around 1445 GMT**
New York – Dow: UP 1.3 percent at 46,757.92 points
New York – S&P 500: UP 1.6 percent at 6,751.19
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 2.2 percent at 23,050.65
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 9,571.77
Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.0 percent at 8,029.24
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.1 percent at 23,418.09
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.7 percent at 49,823.94 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 25,835.57 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,931.05 (close)
New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 46,138.77 (close)
Dollar/yen: UP at 157.61 yen from 157.01 yen on Wednesday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1541 from $1.1526
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3115 from $1.3048
Euro/pound: UP at 88.98 from 88.33 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $59.92 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $63.96 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
