Stock Market Live November 17: S&P 500 (SPY) Bracing for Nvidia Earnings

The S&P 500 is in the red this morning, down about 10 points. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is down about $1.66. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones is down 88 points, while the NASDAQ is down 40 points.

All as markets wait on Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) earnings due on Wednesday after the bell.

Markets want to hear more about the $500 billion in combined orders for 2025 and 2026, as CEO Jensen Huang revealed in October.  It’s a sign that Nvidia is confident in another year of strong growth, and it’s a hopeful sign that the AI boom still has room to run.

Here’s what we do know right now.

Big Tech is still spending billions on AI, which will benefit Nvidia.

Google raised its 2025 capex outlook to $91–$93B. Microsoft is increasing its spending by 74% to $34.9B. Meta nearly doubled capex to $19.37B, far above expectations. Amazon projects $125B in 2025 capex, with more increases planned for 2026

And warnings of an “AI bubble” are increasingly being dismissed by top analysts.

Goldman Sachs says, “it believes the AI story is just getting started – and the investments that seem huge today will be dwarfed by the benefits AI will deliver,” as noted by Quartz.com.

JPMorgan’s Mary Callahan Erdoes added, “AI is presenting opportunities not fully appreciated or understood yet,” as noted by CNBC. “AI itself is not a bubble. That’s a crazy concept… We are on the precipice of a major, major revolution in a way that companies operate.”

Heading into earnings, analysts expect NVDA to post EPS of $1.25 on $54.83 billion in sales, which would be a 56% jump year over year. Analysts are also looking for guidance of $ 61.88 billion in sales for the next quarter.

Analysts Rate NVDA a Buy Heading into Earnings 

Heading into earnings, analysts at Bank of America just reiterated a buy rating on NVDA. Analysts at Rothschild & Co. also reiterated a buy rating on NVDA, raising its target price to $245 from $211 a share.

Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating with a price target of $265 a share.  Citi reiterated a buy rating on the stock, with a price target of $220 from $210.  The firm expects NVDA to post sales of $56.8 billion, as compared to analyst expectations for $54.6 billion.