Stocks end higher as CoreWeave results ease AI spending worries

US and Canadian stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each rallying more than 1% as earnings from neocloud firm CoreWeave cooled investor concerns about the durability of the AI trade, while Nvidia stabilized after two straight sessions ⁠of sharp ​declines.

Battered CoreWeave shares surged more than 20% to the highest intraday level in nearly two weeks. The company said it would become profitable in the first half of 2028 on an adjusted basis, seeking to reassure investors that strong demand and customer commitments could support its debt-fueled expansion.

Sentiment improvedacross AI infrastructure stocks, with Nebius Group and Applied Digital ​both up sharply.

Nvidia advanced after shedding about $430 billion of market capitalization in the previous two ‌sessions as investors worried about CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with a businesswoman alleged to be a Chinese spy.

Equities have been volatile in recent days. Investors have expressed concerns about more regulation in the AI space after sweeping Democratic victories in the US midterm elections last week. That, and worries about Nvidia’s leadership, pressured one of the biggest pillars of the current bull market.

Stocks also have been ‌choppy as investors ​have been encouraged by cooling oil prices ‌but concerned by hot inflation data that pushed Treasury yields sharply higher.

“Everybody’s looking for a canary in a ​coal mine every single day, every minute of every day, and then ⁠they’re reacting every single day,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt in Atlanta.

“What we’ve seen ⁠is that you’ve gone back and forth, back and forth, back and forth between AI is good, AI is not so good. We’re worried ​about it, then oh, it’s great.”

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 96.91 points, or 1.29%, to end at 7,617.84 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 398.70 points, or 1.59%, to 25,464.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 245.03 points, or 0.47%, to 52,476.92.

The TSX ended up 0.67%.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index jumped to a one-week intraday high, as every component of the index showed gains.

Recent pronounced selling pressure prompted some investors to ⁠buy the dip, but early indicators show it is too soon to sound the all-clear.

Investors bought equities even during last week’s selloff, with all net inflows coming through ETFs and institutional clients leading the purchases, Bank of America Global Research analysts said in a note.

The S&P 500 technology index was the best-performing of the 11 major S&P sectors.

The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell for the fourth straight session after hitting a more than seven-month high of ⁠28.36 last week.

Investors also examined the terms set by Anthropic on Tuesday ​for its blockbuster initial public offering. The Claude chatbot creator is aiming for a valuation of up to $1.4 trillion in the ⁠share sale.

Vanda Research said in a note that the IPO could attract record buying by retail investors, with the potential to surpass SpaceX as one of ‌the biggest single-day retail purchases ever.

Hotter-than-expected inflation dataon Tuesday cemented market expectations the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates next month, with ​traders now fully pricing in a hike of at least 25 basis points and a 12.7% chance of an increase of 50 basis points, according to CME FedWatch.

Comments from multiple Fed officials also suggested the US central bank was open to a more aggressive path of rate hikes as price pressures worsen.

The US ​bond market was shut on Wednesday for Veterans Day.

More to come

Reuters, Globe staff