The US stock market held steady on Wednesday as traders looked ahead to two key updates expected to shape Wall Street. Dow climbed 35 points or 0.08% to reach 46,127. Nasdaq also rose 182 points to 22,615 at 8:20 PM IST. S&P 500 also followed the suit, trading at 6,650, up 33 points or 0.5%.Lowe’s provided some early support for the market after the home improvement retailer reported stronger profits for the summer months. TJX also advanced after the company, which runs TJ Maxx and Marshalls, produced earnings that topped forecasts. The focus now turns to Nvidia, the centrepiece of the AI chip boom, which will announce its quarterly results after trading ends. A delayed U.S. jobs report for September is due on Thursday.Investors are also waiting for Nvidia’s next earnings report, a release widely seen as a measure of momentum for the artificial intelligence industry. Nvidia, frequently the stock that sets the pace for the wider market, will publish its latest figures after the closing bell. Demand for the company’s AI processors has been so strong that it briefly pushed Nvidia’s valuation beyond $5 trillion. Its shares were about 2% higher before the market opened.Target was weaker, falling 1.9%, after the retailer reported a sharp drop in third-quarter profit and warned that its sales downturn was likely to continue through the holiday season. The company has struggled with consumers holding back on spending, and its shares have lost 43% over the past year.Lowe’s jumped more than 5% after topping profit expectations and raising parts of its full-year guidance.Constellation Energy climbed 3.4% following news that the U.S. Department of Energy would extend a $1 billion loan to support the restart of its nuclear power plant at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, a facility contracted to supply electricity to Microsoft’s data centres.In Europe, midday trading saw France’s CAC 40 move up by 0.1%, Germany’s DAX improve by 0.4% and the FTSE 100 remain unchanged.Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3% to close at 48,537.70. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng weakened by 0.4% to 25,830.65, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.2% to reach 3,946.74.Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.3% to 8,447.90. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.6% to 3,929.51, and Taiwan’s Taiex declined 0.7%.Oil prices continued to fall. US benchmark crude slid $1.17, or 1.9%, to $59.50 per barrel, while Brent crude fell $1.16 to $63.73.
About the Author
