Nasdaq jumps as Nvidia revenue outlook lifts chip stocks

The Nasdaq Composite was higher on Thursday as the latest earnings reports from Nvidia and other well-known technology companies boosted sentiment.

The tech-heavy index rose 0.8%, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 35 points, or 0.1%.

Nvidia shares jumped 7% after it beat analyst expectations and forecast strong revenue growth. Notably, the chipmaker is projected to see revenue growth hit 70% in fiscal 2028, far higher than the 44% that analysts surveyed by LSEG expected. Its revenue for the fiscal second quarter more than doubled.

“We retain our conviction in the broader AI growth story and believe it remains a key driver of our positive market outlook,” Global Wealth Management CIO Mark Haefele said in a Thursday morning note.

“While ongoing concerns over the sustainability of AI capex and the circularity of certain AI financing deals may continue to inject periodic tech volatility, the second-quarter earnings season has shown that the fundamentals remain robust,” he added.

More broadly, shares linked to the semiconductor industry rallied, with Broadcom adding 2%, and SK Hynix and Arm up 1% and 5%, respectively. Intel shares also rose more than 1%, as did the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH).

Additionally, Salesforce rallied 13% after revenue came in ahead of Wall Street’s forecast for the second quarter. Okta soared more than 20% after surpassing analyst expectations and reporting booming demand due to agentic AI.

Other software stocks gained. ServiceNow and Datadog each advanced 9%, while Adobe and Autodesk climbed around 5%.