S&P 500 closes over 6,500 for the first time as Nvidia results validate AI boom

The three leading U.S. indexes averages finished in positive territory on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.32% to close at 6,501.86, a new record close.

Additionally, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.53% to finish at 21,705.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 71.67 points, or 0.16%, to end at 45,636.90, which was also a record close.

— Sean Conlon

While the reintroduction of sales to China could boost Nvidia in the coming quarters, investor Dan Niles believes that the market is more of a risk in the long term.

"If you think about this from China's perspective, China doesn't want to get addicted to U.S. technology," the founder of Niles Management said Thursday morning on CNBC's "Money Movers."

Niles pointed to Huawei as an example, which he said lost a fair amount of market share on smartphones after President Donald Trump banned the sale of AI chips to China. But then a year-and-a-half ago, Huawei introduced the first smartphone without any U.S. chips, allowing it to take back "massive share in China."

While these Chinese chips are still behind their U.S. counterparts in capabilities, Niles said that ultimately, the differences don't matter so much.

""I'm not saying they're nearly as good as the U.S. technology, but at some point a Ford is just as good as a Ferrari, right? It gets the job done. Maybe not as well, but it's like the Huawei phone, right? Is it as good as an Apple iPhone? No. But is it good enough for them to take tons of market share in China? Absolutely," he remarked.

Over the long run, Niles said that investors should be concerned.

"So from a longer term perspective, that has to concern you, if you're a U.S. investor. Right now, it's all upside, because the guidance Nvidia gave didn't have any China in the numbers, just like it didn't have any China in the numbers when they gave guidance for the quarter. You can look at it right now as glass half full, right up until you can't and you start thinking about some of these longer-term issues," he added.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The market should be impacted next by the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions, according to Societe Generale.

"We believe the bigger driver for equities will be the Fed and rate-cut outlook," Manish Kabra, lead U.S. equities and multi-asset strategist, wrote in a note to clients.

Kabra added that he expects more than 100 basis points of interest rate cuts over the next year.

— Alex Harring

While history shows that September has been a seasonally weak month for stocks, Adam Turnquist of LPL Financial thinks this year's monthly period might not be as dismal.

"The trend is your friend when it comes to September," the firm's chief technical strategist said on Thursday. "Seasonal data represents the typical climate for stocks but not the weather. And currently, the weather for the S&P 500 is filled with blue skies and record highs. When accounting for momentum and trend, which we believe is much-needed context, September doesn't look so bad."

Turnquist noted that when the S&P 500 is above its 200-day moving average (DMA) heading into September, the average price return for the month rises to 1.3%. That compares to an average price decline of 4.2% when the broad market index is below its 200-DMA going into September.

— Sean Conlon

The semiconductor sector as a whole was able to shake off Nvidia's slide.

Nvidia fell almost 1% in afternoon trading as investors digested its earnings report. But the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) and iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) both rose.

Micron was among the sector's best performers in the sector, rising more than 3%. Broadcom was another top performer, adding nearly 3%.

— Alex Harring

On Thursday, 27 stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week highs.

Tickers that reached this milestone included:

• Alphabet A share trading all-time highs back to its IPO on Aug. 19, 2004
• Live Nation Entertainment trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in December 2005
• Carnival trading at levels not seen since March 2020
• Ford trading at levels not seen since July 2024
• Ulta trading at levels not seen since March 2024
• Goldman Sachs trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in May 1999
• General Dynamics trading at all-time high levels back to 1952 when it was incorporated and listed on the NYSE
• Raytheon Technologies trading at all-time highs back to when the United Technologies name was adopted in 1975
• United Rentals trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in December 1997
• Corning trading at levels not seen since January 2001

Just three stocks traded at new 52-week lows: General Mills, Hormel and Cooper Companies.

— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han

Shares of Nvidia-backed neocloud CoreWeave jumped more than 6% on Thursday, a day after Nvidia's financial results suggested AI demand remains strong.

Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress said during the company's Wednesday earnings call that the transition to Nvidia's Blackwell Ultra GB300 GPU has been strong during its most recent quarter, generating tens of billions in revenue, and "seamless" for major cloud service providers given its shared architecture with the prior GPU system. The run rate for the GB300 ramp is expected to accelerate further in the third quarter, Kress added.

CoreWeave supplies Nvidia chips and operates over hundreds of thousands of the company's GPUs across several data centers. It's the largest publicly traded neocloud by market cap.

"We expect widespread market availability in the second half of the year as CoreWeave prepares to bring their GB300 instance to market as they are already seeing 10x more inference performance on reasoning models compared to H100," Kress said during the call. "Compared to the previous Hopper generation, GB300 NVL72 AI factories promise a 10x improvement in token per watt energy efficiency, which translates to revenues as data centers are power limited."

— Pia Singh

Check out the names making big moves in midday trading Thursday:

• Nvidia — The graphics processing unit manufacturer slipped more than 1% after its data center revenue came in below estimates for the second straight quarter. However, Nvidia posted a second-quarter earnings and revenue beat.
• Hormel — The food company's stock fell more than 13% to a 52-week low after it warned profits would be lower than expected in the current quarter as it grapples with higher commodity costs. For the fourth quarter, Hormel expects to earn between 38 cents and 40 cents a share, which is significantly below the 49 cents per share analysts surveyed by LSEG expect.
• Best Buy — Shares of the electronics retailer fell nearly 6% after the company stuck with its annual sales and profit forecast even though its latest quarterly results topped estimates. Best Buy cited uncertainty around the impact of tariffs in the second half of the year for the conservative guidance. The retailer also will be laying off workers as it adapts to new consumer patterns.

Read here for the complete list of stocks.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

While markets are certain that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September meeting, Thomas Martin of Globalt Investments isn't positive that it'd be the right call.

"I'm not sure we need to cut at all," the firm's senior portfolio manager told CNBC. "Inflation is still an issue, and employment is not bad enough to warrant a cut."

Martin also pointed to the potential impacts of President Donald Trump's tariffs, saying that "we have the luxury of giving it more time."

"I don't think it would do any damage to cut once, but if we did, I would be even more cautious about cutting again," he also said.

Currently, fed funds futures are pricing in a more than 87% chance of a quarter percentage point cut, per the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

— Sean Conlon

Investors should take up shares of Nvidia with the hope that a trade deal between China and the U.S. could ultimately be struck within the coming months, according to Paul Meeks of Freedom Capital Markets.

"Investors are starting to get a little concerned because there's still no deal with China. That raises the question — how strong is the guidance really, given how much depends on that? The Trump administration has pushed the dispute out another 90 days, so we won't get clarity anytime soon — it's still a couple of months away," the managing director said.

"The reason I'd be bullish — not on this small dip, but on a more meaningful pullback — is because I think we'll eventually get a deal with China," he added, saying that he assumes China revenues will eventually "come back." "Even if Nvidia can't sell, or the Chinese don't want the H20 chip, I believe Trump's broader package will include leeway for Nvidia and AMD to ship next-gen chips."

— Sean Conlon

Shares of Tesla fell more than 1% in late morning trading as recent data showed that European sales continued to decline.

New car registrations of Tesla vehicles totaled 8,837 in July, marking a 40% year-on-year decline, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA. BYD meanwhile recorded 13,503 new registrations in July. That's up 225% annually.

This is the company's seventh straight month of declines. Tesla's latest sales declines took place even as overall sales of battery electric cars rose in Europe, ACEA data showed.

By contrast, Chinese rival BYD saw a monthly surge.

— Arjun Kharpal

At least one thing could come out of the hoopla around Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's new logo, and that may be a rise in "curiosity visits," according to Citi.

Cracker Barrel on Tuesday backed off of its planned new logo and brand refresh following massive backlash over the last week from its customer base, as well as from President Donald Trump, who took to social media to voice his objection.

Citi analyst Jon Tower, who has a sell rating on the stock, wrote that the long-term consequences for Cracker Barrel remain unclear. However, he pointed out that the family restaurant chain, which has struggled with attracting new customers because of low awareness and an older clientele, may well attract new diners from the media attention.

"Growing attention does not always translate into consistent visits nor solve the brand's longer-term issues around relevancy to younger consumers," Tower wrote. "But could spark curiosity/visits NT as consumers determine what all the ballyhoo was all about."

Cracker Barrel shares are down almost 2% in Thursday morning trading. The stock was up Tuesday and Wednesday, following seven straight days of losses.

However, Tower's $45 price target on the stock implies more than 27% downside from Wednesday's close.

— Sarah Min

Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook sued President Donald Trump on Thursday to contest his move to fire her.

The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., also names Fed Chairman Jerome Powell as well as the board of governors itself as defendants.

"This case challenges President Trump's unprecedented and illegal attempt to remove Governor Cook from her position which, if allowed to occur, would the first of its kind in the Board's history," Cook's attorney, Abbe Lowell, wrote in the suit.

— Erin Doherty, Kevin Breuninger

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ticked up Thursday morning.

The broad market index rose 0.2% just after the opening bell, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded below the flatline.

— Sean Conlon

These are the stocks moving the most in premarket trading:

• Nvidia — The graphics processing unit manufacturer slipped nearly 2% after its data center revenue came in below estimates for the second straight quarter.
• Dollar General — Shares popped 6% after the discount retailer reported a second-quarter earnings and revenue beat.
• Bath & Body Works — The fragrance and candle retailer shed 7% after posting second quarter adjusted earnings of 37 cents per share, missing the 38 cents analysts polled by LSEG had penciled in.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Initial filings for unemployment insurance moved lower last week as employers remained reluctant to part with workers, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Jobless claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 229,000 for the week ending Aug. 23, nearly in line with the Dow Jones estimate and down 5,000 from the previous period.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, edged lower by 7,000 to 1.95 million after hitting a nearly four-year high in the prior week.

In other economic news, gross domestic product grew by a 3.3% annualized rate in the second quarter, higher than the initial estimate of 3.0% and better than the 3.1% consensus forecast.

— Jeff Cox

Shares of Dollar General advanced more than 5% in the premarket Thursday on the heels of its second-quarter results beating analyst expectations.

The discount retailer earned $1.86 per share for the period, above the $1.57 in earnings per share that analysts were looking for, according to LSEG. Its revenue of $10.73 billion likewise came in above the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion.

On top of that, the company raised its guidance for the full year.

— Sean Conlon

Bath & Body Works fell more than 6% in premarket trading Thursday after its second-quarter earnings missed expectations.

For the quarter, the company reported adjusted earnings of 37 cents per share, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had anticipated 38 cents per share. Meanwhile, its revenue of $1.55 billion was in line with the consensus estimate.

— Sean Conlon

Best Buy shares were about 1% lower in the premarket on Thursday following the consumer electronics company's latest quarterly results.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share on $9.44 billion for the second quarter, beating the $1.21 per share and $9.24 billion in revenue that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting.

Best Buy also reaffirmed its full-year earnings and revenue guidance, citing "uncertainty" surrounding the possible impacts of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs in the second half of the year.

"Given the uncertainty of potential tariff impacts in the back half, both on consumers overall as well as our business, we feel it is prudent to maintain the annual guidance we provided last quarter," said Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas. However, he added that the company is "trending toward the higher end of our sales range."

While the stock has seen gains in the last month, having risen more than 11%, it's still negative on the year. In 2025, the stock has dropped around 12%, lagging the broader market's more than 10% jump in the period.

— Sean Conlon

Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge thinks Nvidia's results were mostly fine, but could give the green light to some money away from Big Tech and into other parts of the market.

"Rather than trigger a slump in the market overall, Nvidia should help encourage an ongoing rotation out of mega-cap tech/momentum stocks and into some of the more unloved parts of the market, a process that's been underway for the last several sessions," he said in a note.

— Fred Imbert

Nvidia's closely watched earnings report showed weaker-than-expected sales at its data center business, though the stock's pullback in extended trading may prove short-lived with investors still believing in the artificial intelligence trade.

The chipmaker beat Wall Street's expectations for fiscal second-quarter earnings and gave a stronger current-quarter revenue forecast than anticipated. But shares tumbled in after-hours trading as second-quarter data center revenue came in slightly below the Street's consensus view.

Still, data center revenue soared 56% from a year ago and made up 88% of total sales. Nvidia said it didn't sell any of its H20 processors to customers in China during the period, but it released $180 million worth of inventory to a client based elsewhere.

The knee-jerk reaction over the data center revenue miss may be more about how Wall Street calculated its estimates than it is about Nvidia's performance, said Gene Munster, a co-founder at Deepwater Asset Management.

Read more here.

— Alex Harring

Some stocks are making big moves in extended trading Wednesday:

• Nvidia – Shares of the chip giant fell more than 3%. The company's second-quarter results beat on the top and bottom lines, posting adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share and $46.74 billion in revenue. That's compared with the $1.01 per share and $46.06 billion, respectively, that analysts surveyed by LSEG were anticipating. Data center revenue tallied $41.1 billion. Although that marked a 56% increase year over year, it missed the StreetAccount estimate of $41.34 billion.
• Snowflake – Shares jumped about 12% on the heels of the data cloud and artificial intelligence company posting better-than-expected second-quarter results. Snowflake earned 35 cents per share, after adjustments, on revenue of $1.14 billion, above the profit of 27 cents per share and $1.09 billion in revenue that analysts were expecting. Its third-quarter guidance was also upbeat.
• NetApp – The stock fell more than 6% after the intelligent data infrastructure company's first-quarter results just barely beat expectations. The company earned $1.55 per share, excluding items, and $1.56 billion in revenue, while analysts were looking for $1.54 per share and $1.55 billion in revenue, according to LSEG. Its outlook was also roughly in line with analyst estimates.

Read the full list of names here.

— Sean Conlon

S&P 500 futures fell Wednesday night on the heels of Nvidia's recent earnings report.

Shortly after 6 p.m. ET, futures tied to the broad market index declined 0.3%, while Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.5%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 30 points, or 0.1%.

— Sean Conlon