A Month Into the Print
Chips led the tape into Nvidia's report; Brent crude fell roughly a sixth over the month.
Semiconductors ran into the print, SMH +3.8% and AMD +8.1%, while WTI fell 8.8% and the S&P added 1.0%.
Chips led the tape into Nvidia's report; Brent crude fell roughly a sixth over the month.
SMH closed up 3.8% at 564.66, the semiconductor group's strongest single session of the month, as buyers crowded in ahead of Nvidia's after-close report. AMD added 8.1% to 447.58 and Micron rose 4.8% to 731.99, both outrunning the index they sit in.
Nvidia itself closed up 1.3% at 223.47 in the regular session, the smallest gain among the large chip names on the day. The report landed at 4:35pm ET, after the cash close, so the 1.3% captures the run-in, not the reaction to the numbers.
Dell rose 3.3% to 242.93 and Taiwan Semiconductor added 2.3% to 401.62, while Vertiv fell 2.2% to 315.67, the one power-and-cooling name that did not join the move.
AMD and Micron stepped up on the final session; the chart stops at the 5pm cash close, before the after-hours print.
Nvidia reported revenue of 81.6 billion dollars for the quarter ended April 26, up 85% from a year ago and up 20% from the prior quarter, according to the 8-K filed May 20. Data Center revenue was a record 75.2 billion, up 92% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 1.87 per diluted share; GAAP earnings were 2.39.
Gross margin held at 75.0% on a non-GAAP basis, against 60.8% a year earlier. The company added 80.0 billion to its share repurchase authorization and raised the quarterly dividend to 0.25 per share from 0.01.
The filing puts Q2 revenue guidance at 91.0 billion, plus or minus 2%, and states in its own words that "NVIDIA is not assuming any Data Center compute revenue from China in its outlook." That single line is the forward number the market now has to price.
WTI crude fell 8.8% to 98.26 and Brent fell 5.6% to 105.02, the largest one-day drops on the tape. Energy equities followed, with XLE down 2.4% to 59.80.
The slide tracked reporting of a preliminary US-Iran framework to extend a ceasefire and ease shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about a fifth of seaborne oil and LNG. The terms had not been approved, and the Vice President's office said the timing remained uncertain.
TJX rose 5.7% to 159.21 after raising its annual sales and profit forecasts, the strongest retail reaction of the day. The off-price chain reported 1.19 per share against a 1.02 estimate.
Target fell 3.9% to 122.33 even after beating, reporting 1.71 per share on 25.44 billion in revenue and lifting its full-year sales-growth outlook to 4%. Lowe's rose 1.2% to 221.05 after a narrow beat at 3.03 per share.
AMD led the gainers at 8.1%; WTI crude led the decliners at 8.8% down.
The S&P 500 closed up 1.0% at 741.25, the Nasdaq 100 proxy up 1.7%, and the Russell 2000 up 2.5%, even as the April 28-29 FOMC minutes released at 2:00pm ET showed a divided committee. The April meeting carried four dissents, and a majority of officials said tightening could be warranted if inflation stayed above target.
Rates eased anyway: the 10-year yield fell to 4.57% from 4.67% and the 30-year to 5.12%, with TLT up 1.1%. The VIX fell 3.4% to 17.44.
The Fed-June-cut market sat at 3% on Kalshi, down from 9% a month earlier, with a parallel Polymarket contract at about 2%. The market that asks whether Nvidia remains the world's largest company by late June stood near 85%, down from 90% a month ago.