New York
A dire August for world markets is being rehabilitated in its final week, helped by another sparkling AI-related surprise from chip giant Nvidia and a rebound in battered bond markets.
Frankfurt-listed shares of Nvidia jumped almost 9% on Thursday, lifting other chipmaker stocks and tech shares around the world after the company forecast quarterly revenue that smashed expectations and announced a $25 billion stock buyback.
Nvidia has been the biggest beneficiary of this year’s boom in artificial intelligence, the rise of ChatGPT and other generative AI apps – virtually all of which are powered by the firm’s graphics processors.
Its shares have already tripled in value this year, adding more than $700 billion to market valuation and making it the first trillion-dollar chip firm.
The bar for surprise from Wednesday’s earnings update was sky high, but the company somehow managed to vault it again.
A refocusing on the year’s AI craze has been one catalyst for the late-month bounce in world stock indices, on course today for a fourth straight gain for the first time in more than a month. Despite the rebound the index is still down more than 4% for August – its worst month since last September.
Even before the Nvidia release after the bell on Wednesday, the S&P500 had put in its best day since June – and futures were higher again ahead of Thursday’s open. European and Asia bourses were higher, with even Shanghai ekeing out a small gain.
