Morning Bid: Hush falls over markets ahead of Nvidia

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A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook

Financial markets hit a holding pattern ahead of chipmaker Nvidia’s earnings later on Wednesday.

Nvidia’s near 7% weighting in the S&P 500 ensures that where goes Nvidia, so goes the market. It reports after hours.

Before the release, CPI data is due for Britain where it would take a big upside surprise to derail a rate cut that markets have priced in for December.

Stocks, bonds and the currency market were all mostly steady through the Asia session, though gains were hard to come by as investors were holding their breath to see if Nvidia’s outlook can match lofty expectations.

Enormous AI spending commitments should guarantee good business for the chipmaker in the year ahead, but it’s longer-term that doubts over the sustainability of returns are starting to make investors nervous.

Analysts following the company have been getting more bullish about the company’s future performance, with expectations for the company’s fiscal 2027 revenue rising 15% since late May to about $285 billion, according to LSEG data.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s October meeting are due during the U.S. day, and will be parsed for a read on the dynamics of a divided Fed, where members are arguing for differing policy responses to inflation and labour data.

In Japan, the yen held steady just above Tuesday’s nine-month low while the central bank governor, finance and economic revitalisation ministers held a meeting.

The last time the BOJ chief met with the finance and economic revitalisation ministers was in October last year, when they warned against excessive yen falls and agreed to carefully monitor market developments.

Key developments that could influence markets on Wednesday:

– UK, euro zone inflation

– Federal Reserve minutes

– Earnings for Nvidia, Target

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)