US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq gain with Nvidia; Walmart jumps after forecast

Univest Financial

19/11/2024 19:47

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      Walmart gains after raising annual sales, profit forecast
    

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      Super Micro surges after auditor appointment
    

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      Indexes: Dow down 0.1%, S&P 500 up 0.4%, Nasdaq up 1%
    

  
 (Updates to early afternoon)
    By Caroline Valetkevitch
       NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - 
    The Nasdaq rose about 1% and the S&P 500 also climbed on
Tuesday, led by a jump in technology shares as investors eagerly
awaited results this week from Nvidia, while Walmart shares
advanced after the retailer raised its annual forecasts.
  
    The Dow edged lower.
        Nvidia  NVDA.O , which reports third-quarter results on
Wednesday, rose 3.9% and was the biggest positive on the S&P 500
and Nasdaq. The technology sector  .SPLRCT  was up 1.2%.
  
        Other megacap stocks also rose, including Apple  AAPL.O 
and Amazon.com  AMZN.O .
  
        All three major indexes opened lower and the benchmark
index dropped as much as 0.64% after Russian President Vladimir
Putin lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to
a broader range of conventional attacks earlier in the day, and
Moscow said Ukraine had struck deep inside Russia with U.S.-made
long-range missiles.
    Stocks pared losses as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said Moscow will do everything possible to prevent the
breakout of a nuclear war.
    "The biggest takeaway today is caution around what's going
on in Ukraine. Largely investors are hiding out in some of the
megacap names, which is a little bit surprising ahead of Nvidia
earnings. But they are highly liquid," said Timothy Chubb, chief
investment officer at Girard, a Univest Wealth Division.
        Walmart's earnings were upbeat and "seeing some
resilience" in the consumer ahead the holidays is a positive, he
added.
  
        The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  fell 78.86
points, or 0.18%, to 43,310.74, the S&P 500  .SPX  gained 25.68
points, or 0.44%, to 5,919.3 and the Nasdaq Composite  .IXIC 
added 183.44 points, or 0.98%, to 18,975.25.
  
        Investors are also awaiting key cabinet appointments for
President-elect Donald Trump's administration.
    Walmart  WMT.N  shares hit a record high and were last up
3.8% at $87.34 after the retailer raised its annual sales and
profit forecasts for the third consecutive time.
    Super Micro Computer  SMCI.O  rose 31.7% after the
artificial intelligence server maker named BDO USA as its
auditor and said it has submitted a plan to the Nasdaq to avoid
delisting.
    Adding to optimism, Goldman Sachs strategists forecast the
S&P 500 would reach 6,500 by the end of 2025.

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Walmart earnings    https://reut.rs/48VOnCg
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 (Additional reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli and
Richard Chang)
 ((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))