US STOCKS-S&P 500 notches record high close as Nvidia results buttress AI rally

Hormel Foods

28/08/2025 21:00

Weekly jobless claims fall; corporate profits rebound in Q2

Snowflake surges on AI-driven revenue forecast

HP Inc gains on upbeat Q3 revenue

Updates with end of trading session

By Noel Randewich

Aug 28 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 notched a record high close on Thursday after Nvidia's quarterly report fell short of investors' high expectations but confirmed that spending related to artificial intelligence infrastructure remains strong.

Shares of Nvidia NVDA.O dipped as much as 2.9% after Sino-U.S. trade uncertainties prompted the leading AI chip designer to exclude potential China sales from its quarterly forecast late on Wednesday.

Investors viewed Nvidia's report, including a 56% surge in quarterly revenue, as confirmation that demand related to AI technology remains strong, supporting a rally in AI-related stocks that has propelled Wall Street to record highs in recent years.

AI heavyweights Microsoft MSFT.O, Amazon AMZN.O and Meta Platforms META.O gained.

"Nvidia is such an outlier that to say it was a disappointing print is only against the bar of borderline impossible expectations," said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird. "It's clear that the primary structural driver of this market, which is AI, is not going anywhere or cooling down."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 19.62 points, or 0.30%, to end at 6,501.02 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 115.90 points, or 0.54%, to 21,706.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 70.35 points, or 0.15%, to 45,635.58.

        Nike NKE.N bounced between small losses and small gains after the sports apparel seller said it was cutting less than 1% of its corporate workforce as it struggles to reclaim market share lost to rivals.

Reducing worries of a slowing economy, weekly jobless claims were lower than expected, while a separate report showed corporate profits rebounded in the second quarter.

Expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates to shore up economic growth have contributed to Wall Street's recent gains.

Investors on Friday will focus on Personal Consumption Expenditures data. Any signs of inflation increasing could temper broad expectations for easing at the Fed's policy meeting in September.

Traders are pricing in more than an 80% chance of an interest rate cut next month, according to CME Group's FedWatch.

On Thursday, Fed Governor Lisa Cook filed a lawsuit challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to remove her from office earlier this week.

Data analytics company Snowflake SNOW.N surged after raising its forecast for fiscal 2026 product revenue, citing AI demand.

HP Inc HPQ.N rose after beating quarterly revenue estimates on growing demand for AI-powered personal computers.

Packaging food company Hormel Foods HRL.N tumbled after issuing a downbeat quarterly profit forecast.

From blowouts to beats: How often Nvidia outperformed expectations https://reut.rs/4fXnTUk

 (Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Richard Chang)

 ((noel.randewich@thomsonreuters.com))