Most US stocks rise, but Nvidia’s fall is pulling the market lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks are rising on Thursday, but a drop for Nvidia is weighing on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% following sharp swings earlier in the week driven by hopes and worries created by the artificial-intelligence revolution. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 254 points, or 0.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower.

Nvidia, whose chips are helping to power the AI boom, reported another quarter of big profit growth that breezed past analysts’ expectations. It also gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that once again topped Wall Street’s estimates.

Such blowout performances have become so typical for Nvidia, though, that this one failed to impress. Its stock sank 2.4%.

“Our customers are racing to invest in AI compute — the factories powering the AI industrial revolution and their future growth,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said.

Worries are nevertheless building that companies may eventually pull back on their spending on Nvidia chips and other AI investments amid doubts about whether they can ever possibly make back all those billions of dollars through future gains in productivity.

Because Nvidia’s is the largest stock in the U.S. market by value, it has more influence on the S&P 500’s direction than any other stock. That helped drag the index at the center of many 401(k) accounts lower, even though the majority of stocks within it rose.

On the winning side of Wall Street Thursday was Salesforce, which rose 1.4% after it likewise reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

It’s a return to gains for the stock, which is still down nearly 27% for the young year so far. It’s been under pressure because of worries that AI-powered competitors could undercut its business.

Beyond software, stocks of companies in industries as far flung as trucking logistics and financial services have also come under sudden and aggressive attack by investors who fear their businesses may lose out to AI or even become obsolete.

Salesforce uses AI itself in its platform that helps customers manage their own relationships with their customers. It also made several announcements that typically give a stock’s price a boost: It will send up to $50 billion to shareholders through buybacks of its stock, and it raised its dividend by nearly 6%.

“Agentic AI is a tailwind for our business,” CEO Marc Benioff said.

Salesforce also gave a forecast for revenue growth this fiscal year of 10% to 11%. The midpoint of that range fell slightly below analysts’ expectations.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Warner Bros. Discovery shares edged down by 0.1% after the entertainment giant reported a $252 million loss for the fourth quarter. That didn’t seem to bother investors, who are likely more interested in which acquisition offer — Netfix or Paramount Skydance — the company and its shareholders ultimately accept.

Some of the strongest action in financial markets was for oil, where prices sank as the United States and Iran hold indirect talks to try to reach a deal about Iran’s nuclear program. A peaceful solution would remove the threat of war, which could block the global flow of oil and drive up its price.

A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 1.7% to $64.32. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.3% to $69.75 per barrel.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi leaped 3.7% to another record, driven by gains for tech-related stocks. It’s already surged nearly 50% since the turn of the year.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, meanwhile, lost 1.4%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.03% from 4.05% late Wednesday.

A report showed that the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits ticked up last week, but not by any more than economists expected. It also remains relatively low compared with history.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.