Nasdaq, S&P 500 eke out gains as Dow, bitcoin drop with all eyes on Nvidia earnings

I have an interview with Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff this evening — that will air around 7:00 p.m. ET on our homepage. But I just caught up with their finance lead on this full-year EPS guidance miss.

Their person tells me it reflects ongoing currency unfavorability, mostly. No change in demand backdrop.

Salesforce shares are coming back after an initial downdraft.

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

Read more here.

Nvidia (NVDA) stock rose after the AI chipmaker reported Q4 earnings that beat on both the top and bottom lines.

The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.89 on revenue of $39.3 billion. Analysts had anticipated EPS of $0.84 on revenue of $38.25 billion. Shares rose around 4% in after-hours trading.

Data center revenue beat expectations of $34.09 billion to hit $35.6 billion in the quarter. The company also issued better-than-expected guidance for the current quarter, anticipating revenue of $43 billion, plus or minus 2%.

The $3.2 trillion chipmaker entered Wednesday’s report with shares down over 2% since the start of the year.

Stocks closed mixed to end another volatile trading day as investors await Nvidia’s (NVDA) crucial earnings report due out after the bell.

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) pared gains to finish the day up around 0.3%. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed just above the flatline, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell roughly 0.4%.

Notably, bitcoin prices took another leg lower, losing over 4% on Wednesday to drop below $85,000.

Tech stocks pared gains on Wednesday afternoon after President Trump referenced tariffs against the European Union during a Cabinet meeting.

All eyes were on Nvidia (NVDA) which will report earnings after the bell. Shares of the AI chip giant traded just 2% higher after rising as much as 5% earlier in the session.

EV maker Tesla (TSLA) dropped as much as 3% to hit a session low. Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) fell more than 1.5% while iPhone maker Apple (AAPL) also dropped 3% to hit a session low.

On Wednesday afternoon, President Trump said tariffs against the EU would amount to 25%, mentioning specifically auto imports, though more details are expected to come out soon.

The major gauges lost momentum Wednesday afternoon as President Trump said he was working on imposing new tariffs on imports from the EU.

In a Cabinet meeting Wednesday Trump said the tariffs would amount to 25% and would be announced soon. The president said the levies would be applied generally and specifically mentioned car imports.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slipped just under the flat line, reversing earlier gains, and was on track to add to two back-to-back losing sessions. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) lost around 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gave up 0.6%.

AppLovin was a top trending ticker on Yahoo Finance after two short sellers targeted the stock, sending shares down as much as 20% before they recouped some of those losses by mid-afternoon trade.

The short-selling firms Culper Research and Fuzzy Panda Research each published bearish reports regarding the mobile tech company, which had been on a hot streak to kick off the year.

Prior to Wednesday’s steep sell-off, shares had been up over 20% year to date. The initial declines shaved off approximately $32 billion from its market cap.

Wall Street analysts remain bullish on the stock with 21 Buy ratings, 6 Holds, and no Sells, according to Bloomberg data.

Nvidia (NVDA) is set to report earnings after the bell with a lot riding on the results of the AI chipmaker.

Nvidia stock has struggled since the start of the year, but shares rose around 5% in Wednesday afternoon trading.

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton has you covered with what to expect:

Read more here.

Tech staged a recovery on Wednesday after back-to-back session declines, with Nvidia (NVDA) up over 4% ahead of its earnings and Meta (META) rising over 3%. Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) also increased by more than 1%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices rose a modest 1% to trade around $87,500 after the cryptocurrency suffered its biggest one-day percentage drop in nearly seven months on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, yields on the 10-year Treasury held steady at some of its lowest levels of the year at around 4.3%.

Housing activity for new residential construction started the year lower as high mortgages pushed buyers to the sidelines.

Sales of new homes slumped 10.5% in January to a seasonally adjusted rate of 657,000 units, down from December’s revised rate of 734,000, according to Census Bureau data released on Wednesday. That was much lower than Bloomberg consensus expectations for a pace of 680,000.

Some house hunters have resisted purchasing due to expensive borrowing costs. Mortgage rates topped 7% in January and remain within the same range.

High homeownership costs have influenced builders to sweeten the deal for budget-conscious house hunters.

PulteGroup (PHM) CEO Ryan Marshall told investors and analysts on their fourth quarter earnings call in late January that “affordability is probably the one headwind that’s out there, but I continue to think that the economy will figure out ways to solve for that.”

Still, would-be buyers are dealing with high home prices. The median sales price of new homes rose to $446,300 from $427,000 in January.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

Read more here.

Tech stocks led the broader markets higher on Wednesday as investors awaited Nvidia’s (NVDA) crucial earnings report, due after the bell.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose around 0.4%, looking to make a comeback after two back-to-back losing sessions. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) added around 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) inched up roughly 0.1%.

The start of 2025 appears to be heading in the right direction for home improvement retailer, Lowe’s (LOW), which beat Wall Street estimates for its Q4 earnings report, released on Wednesday.

Lowe’s stock was up 4% in premarket trading today.

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:

Read more here.

Economic data: MBA Mortgage Applications (week ending Feb. 21); New home sales (January); Building permits (January final)

Earnings: Nvidia (NVDA), Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), Advance Auto Parts (AAP), C3.ai (AI), Clear Secure (YOU), Lowe’s (LOW), Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), NRG Energy (NRG), Salesforce (CRM), Snowflake (SNOW), Stellantis (STLA)

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Wall Street braces for Nvidia earnings

Meta in talks to build $200 billion AI data center: Report

Nvidia’s post-earnings stock move may not reflect the big picture

Trump’s economic pick is under pressure over stance on the Fed

Super Micro rockets 25% after Nasdaq delisting deadline is met

Big bets on bond rally reflect worries about economic slowdown

DOE pulls application form for key student loan repayment plans