Nasdaq rebounds but Dow opens flat, with Nvidia numbers awaited

10am: Nasdaq opens higher, Dow flat Buyers are generally outnumbering sellers on Wall Street in initial trades, as chipmakers and AI-linked stocks resumed their climb ahead of Nvidia’s earnings tonight. The Nasdaq opened up 0.4%, with the S&P 500 rising 0.25%. The Dow Jones was just below flat, however, as consumer-focused companies retreated, with Walmart, Amex, McDonalds and Home Depot leading the declines, with Salesforce and IBM also falling over 1%. On the Nasdaq, ARM Holdings led the climb with a 12% jump, followed by Marvell Technology, up 7.5%, and Intel, which gained 6.7% as investors rotated back into semiconductor stocks. Constellation Energy, Advanced Micro Devices and Lam Research were also among the strongest risers, along with ASML, Applied Materials and Micron as part of the AI infrastructure theme. 8am: Stock futures point higher, led by Nasdaq US stock futures were edging higher on Wednesday ahead of a busier day of economic and corporate news, with investors awaiting Nvidia’s latest earnings as a key test for the AI trends that have driven the wider market. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.6%, with those for the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Dow Jones futures up 82 points, or 0.2%. The rebound follows a weaker Wall Street session the day before, when the Nasdaq fell 0.8%, and both the Dow and S&P dropped 0.7%, as weakness in technology shares weighed on sentiment. Markets are continuing to wrestle with rising bond yields, higher oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty linked to the Middle East. The key 10-year Treasury note reached 4.69%, the highest yield since February 2025, though easing to 4.65% in early morning trading to give a boost for earnings ahead of the opening bell in New York. Front-month WTI crude futures were down 1.7% at $102.40 a barrel. Investors are facing a “complex interface” of risks and events, said strategist Marc Ostwald at ADM said including inflation data and a growing debate in Washington over US involvement in Iran. He added “While the Nvidia results offers some context to AI euphoria, there is a gradual realization that the rise in bond yields due to energy price pressures and major supply chain disruptions will make the colossal debt binge by AI hyperscalers all the more challenging (given the risk of project cost blowouts), along with a more sanguine consideration of what the huge investments in AI will actually deliver in terms of ROI, cost savings, efficiencies and innovations.” Daniela Hathorn at Capital.com said markets were displaying an unusual divergence, showing signs of “2000-style equity optimism alongside 2007-style bond market stress”. She said investors were effectively betting that strong earnings growth from large technology companies would outweigh tighter financial conditions, though that assumption may become harder to sustain if inflation and bond yields remain elevated. In other corporate stories, SpaceX has set June 12 as the date for its IPO, with Goldman Sachs running the book and pricing details to come the day before. Analysts are suggesting Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company could attract a valuation anywhere between $1 and $2 trillion For macroeconomic data crunchers, later brings the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s April monetary policy meeting, Jerome Powell’s last as chair. Mortgage rates and EIA numbers are also due.