Nvidia stock rises as Jensen Huang joins Trump China trip

Nvidia stock rose more than 2% in premarket trading Wednesday as CEO Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump on his visit to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

That helped push broader stock futures higher. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.8%, and S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 115 points, or about 0.2%. AMD stock was up 2% before the open and Micron surged almost 6%, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF posting a 2.2% gain.

Qualcomm’s CEO also traveled with Trump to China, according to MarketWatch. For investors, the symbolism of Huang securing a spot on Air Force One was read as a potential harbinger of favorable movement on chip export licensing.

Tuesday’s session saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq retreat from record territory after a hotter-than-anticipated consumer inflation print rattled markets and lifted the 10-year Treasury yield to above 4.46%. The PHLX Semiconductor index had posted gains exceeding 30% across the preceding month, according to MarketWatch, with AI-related demand serving as the primary catalyst.

Data from Goldman Sachs’ prime-brokerage unit, cited by MarketWatch, showed that even as chip stocks roared higher since late March, hedge funds were consistently reducing their net exposure to the group. Vincent Lin and colleagues said the selling was concentrated in long positions, suggesting portfolio managers were locking in gains while preserving their ability to benefit from further upside through options strategies.

Speaking on CNBC, Citi Wealth’s head of portfolio construction Olaolu Aganga argued that as AI-driven capital spending spreads into sectors beyond technology, a broader set of investment themes becomes viable. She pointed to power grid buildout and energy independence as areas where earnings strength could prove lasting. “Those companies that can benefit from the capex spending with regards to energy and the grid and energy independence,” she said. “We think we have durable earnings there as well.”