US stocks surged on Thursday as blockbuster Nvidia (NVDA) earnings helped rekindle faith in the AI trade, and rate-cut hopes brightened after the release of the long-awaited September jobs report.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the way higher, rising roughly 2.5%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up more than 1.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech stocks, rose 1.3%, or over 500 points. Stocks had seen a modest rebound on Wednesday, breaking a four-day losing streak.
Nvidia stock surged nearly 5% in early trading after the chipmaker delivered an earnings beat and issued a stronger-than-expected revenue outlook for the fourth quarter. CEO Jensen Huang said demand for the company’s Blackwell processors is “off the charts,” easing concern that the recent cooldown in AI-linked stocks signaled a longer-term slowdown.
Meanwhile, Thursday morning’s September nonfarm-payrolls report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics prompted a rethink in rate-cut bets. The US economy added 119,000 jobs during the month, data showed — well above the modest gain of 51,000 expected.
But the US unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, up from 4.3% in August. Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged from the previous month, while the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago projected it had inched up to 4.35%.
Following the report, options traders were pricing in around 42% odds of a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting in December, compared with 28% earlier in the morning and 30% the previous day, per CME Group.
The data marked the first major insight into the US economy since the longest-ever US government shutdown ended. The stoppage had left Wall Street flying blind in trying to gauge the odds of interest rate cuts from the central bank. September’s report came into even higher focus since the the BLS canceled the October edition and moved the November update back to Dec. 16.
Minutes from the Fed’s October meeting showed policymakers have “strongly differing views” over whether a cooling labor market or stubborn inflation poses the greater risk to the economy. The divide fed uncertainty over the central bank’s December decision, with a number of officials signaling no further rate cuts ahead.
Elsewhere in earnings, Walmart (WMT) raised its full-year forecasts after it beat on profit and sales in the third quarter. Its shares wavered as investors assessed the big-box retailer’s report, seen as a window into the strength of the consumer heading into the holiday season.
LIVE 11 updates
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Chip stocks, Big Tech names rise in Nvidia’s slipstream
Shares in chipmakers climbed in the wake of Nvidia’s (NVDA) stellar earnings, with fellow megacaps and other AI-linked names also getting a boost.
Broadcom (AVGO) and AMD (AMD) both saw their stock rise about 4% soon after the market open, while Arm (ARM) moved up over 3%, and Intel (INTC) added almost that much
Big Tech stocks Google (GOOG) 3.3% and Meta (META) put on about 3% and 2%, respectively, as other “Magnificent Seven” megacaps floated higher. Tesla (TSLA), which has AI ambitions for robots and self-driving cars, advanced nearly 6%.
Meanwhile, CoreWeave (CRWV) stock jumped nearly 7%. The cloud services provider rents out Nvidia chips for other companies to use, meaning it’s dependent on the AI demand growth forecast by the bellwether.
The same optimism fed a 3% gain in US-listed shares of Taiwan’s TSMC (TSM), the giant contract chipmaker that’s a big supplier to Nvidia.
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Interest rate-cut bets jump after September jobs report
The long-awaited September jobs report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday — delayed by government shutdown — showed the unemployment rate climbing more than projected during the month, but also hiring accelerating far above expectations.
After the report, options traders were pricing in roughly 42% odds of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points at its December meeting, according to CME Group. That’s up from around 28% earlier in the morning, before the jobs report, and 30% on Wednesday.
Still, rate cut bets are far below last month, when traders were pricing in more than 99% chances of an easing in December.
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Tech leads stocks higher at the open
US stocks popped at the market open Friday following Nvidia’s (NVDA) stellar earnings and the long awaited September jobs report, which lifted hopes for interest rate cuts from the Fed in December.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) surged 2.1%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added roughly 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech stocks, climbed 1.3%.
Stocks had seen a modest rebound on Wednesday after four days of losses.
Thurday’s moves helped put the Nasdaq and S&P in positive territory over the past five trading sessions, while the Dow was still set for a weekly loss.
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Unemployment ticked up more than expected in September
The US unemployment rate rose more than expected in September to 4.4%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly jobs report for September at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday after a six-week delay due to the longest-ever government shutdown.
August’s jobs report had shown the unemployment rate stood at 4.3%. Economists polled by Bloomberg expected the rate to remain unchanged in September, while the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago projected that it had inched up to 4.35%.
At the same time, September’s “Employment Situation” report showed the US economy added 119,000 jobs during the month, well above the modest gain of 51,000 positions expected by economists, per Bloomberg data.
The BLS’s monthly jobs reports are widely watched, giving investors an overview of the health of the US labor market. It also factors into the Fed’s interest rate policy decisions.
Also on Thursday, Labor Department data showed fewer than anticipated US jobless claims in the week through Nov. 15. The initial unemployment filings totaled 220,000 versus the 227,000 expected, according to Bloomberg data.
Read more here.
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Nvidia says it’s ‘disappointed’ as China business falls flat amid geopolitical turmoil
As the dust settles on Nvidia’s (NVDA) solid earnings beat and guidance raise, my colleague Laura Bratton notes that China remains a sore spot for the AI chipmaker.
Laura reports:
Read more here.
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Walmart earnings, sales top expectations as company raises full-year forecasts
Walmart (WMT) stock was muted after the company reported third quarter results, showing that the world’s largest retailer still sees growth despite an uncertain consumer environment that caused some of its rivals to stumble.
Shares fell 0.2% in premarket trading after initially dipping 2%.
Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:
Read more here.
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Asia tech stocks rise in wake of Nvidia’s stellar earnings
Technology stocks in Asia popped on Thursday after Nvidia (NVDA) earnings dampened fears of an AI bubble.
Shares of Taiwan’s TSMC (TSM, 2330.TW), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier of chips to Nvidia, jumped 4.3%. Its US-listed stock rose 2.6% in premarket.
Another Nvidia partner, South Korea’s SK Hynix (000660.KS, HXSCL), saw its shares rise 1.6%, while its peer Samsung Electronics (005930.KS, SSNLF) gained nearly 4.3%.
The moves sent the tech-heavy Taiwan and South Korea stock indexes higher, while in Japan, the Nikkei (^N225) advanced over 2.6% and at one point reclaimed the key 50,000 level in the session.
Read more here.
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Is the ‘no-hire, no-fire’ labor market narrative breaking as job cuts mount?
Yahoo Finance’s Emma Ockerman looks at what layoffs are telling us about the jobs market with delayed official data finally about to land.
She reports:
Read more here.
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AMD, Micron, other chip stocks rise in wake of Nvidia’s report
Shares of some of the largest tech and chip companies rose in premarket trading after Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings results provided much-needed reassurance to investors skittish over the AI trade.
AMD (AMD) stock jumped nearly 5%. Shares of Micron (MU) and Broadcom (AVGO) both rose about %. Megacap tech companies — such as Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOG) — also ticked up after the report’s release.
Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) shares rose over 5% as investors assessed its earnings.
Read more about the results here.
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Gold levels as Fed minutes lower investor hope for a rate cut
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
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Wed, November 19, 2025 at 11:40 PM UTC
Nvidia stock spikes on Q3 earnings beat as CEO Jensen Huang reaffirms ‘off the charts’ AI chip demand
Nvidia (NVDA) stock jumped as much as 4% after the AI chip leader’s third quarter results beat analysts’ estimates on the top and bottom lines and offered a better-than-anticipated outlook.
“Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement.
Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley reports:
Read more about Nvidia’s results here.
