Stocks Jump as Nvidia Sets Off Tech Rally

Wall Street stocks posted their biggest gain in more than a year on Thursday, a day after Nvidia, which has become an emblem of the growth potential offered by artificial intelligence, reported record profits.

The S&P 500 rose 2.1 percent, its best one-day performance since January 2023. The Nasdaq Composite index, which is packed with technology stocks such as Nvidia, rose 3 percent, also its biggest one-day jump in more than a year.

After the markets closed on Wednesday, NVIDIAwhich designs microchips used in the development of artificial intelligence, reported record revenue of more than $22 billion during the last three months of 2023. Those figures exceeded analysts' expectations, fueling a global stock rally.

He Nikkei 225 Index in Japan rose to a new high, breaking its previous peak that had been set in early 1990. Stock markets in China, Germany, France and Britain finished the day higher.

Nvidia's surprising financial performance confirmed a rapid period of growth for the company, which has benefited from emerging AI exuberance. Its revenue increased more than 250 percent from the same period in 2022.

The company surged about 16 percent on Thursday, making it the best-performing stock in the S&P 500. Over the past 12 months, its share price has soared 275 percent, adding about $1.5 trillion. dollars to its market valuation and making it one of the most highly valued stocks in the world.

That size also means the company has a big effect on the indexes it is a part of, as Nvidia's share price rise accounted for nearly a third of the S&P's rise on Thursday.

Other chipmakers also enjoyed a sharp rise in their share prices, with Advanced Micro Devices rising about 11 percent and Applied Materials up 5 percent.