The DOW JONES index fell 0.10% to 47,660.96 points after Powell’s intervention. Leading the rise are Caterpillar (+12.14%), and NVIDIA (+2.76%), with the latter exceeding a market capitalization of 5 trillion dollars. The most bearish value is Boeing (-4.33%).
The S&P 500 lost 0.08%, at 6,885.10 points, while the Nasdaq rose 0.35% to 23,911.49 points.
Wall Street is coming off a very positive day yesterday, Tuesday, in which the three major indices managed to close positively, once again setting all-time highs. The DOW JONES rose 0.34%, the S&P 500 gained 0.23% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.80%.
One of the big litmus tests to see if the bullish trend continues may be the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting. The market assumed that the Fed would lower interest rates by 25 percentage points, to a range of between 3.75% and 4.00%, which has been the case. However, there was less certainty about whether Chairman Jerome Powell would adopt a dovish tone in his subsequent remarks.
And Powell’s words have been far from satisfying investors. “In the committee’s discussions during this meeting, there were very divergent opinions on how to proceed in December,” he warned. In that sense, “a further reduction in the official interest rate at the December meeting is not a given conclusion. «Not at all.»
Investors had counted on another rate cut from the central bank at its December meeting.
While, Trade tensions between the US and China seem to have eased following progress made over the weekend, but investors now await the results of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
“The market is seeing that President Trump is resuming dialogue with the rest of the world (i.e. China and Japan), which is positive as he could moderate his desire to impose more tariffs,” says Thierry Wizman, global currency and interest rate strategist at Macquarie Group. «The possibility of very high tariffs, especially on China, has decreased. To some extent, this also favors the prospect of the Federal Reserve taking a more flexible stance, given that there is a relationship between lower tariffs and lower inflation.»
NVIDIA exceeds 5 trillion market capitalization
In the business field, the quarterly results season continues, which at the moment is being stronger than expected. With 180 S&P 500 companies having published their accounts, the average increase in earnings per share is 14.1%compared to the 8.5% expected before the publication of the first company, according to the accounts of Bankinter analysts. The qualitative balance is as follows: 87% exceed expectations, 3% are in line and the remaining 10% disappoint. In the last quarter (2Q’25) earnings per share increased 13.3%, compared to the expected 5.8%.
This week five of the so-called Magnificent 7 parade down the catwalk, with the results today after the close of regular business for Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft. Tomorrow it will be Apple and Amazon’s turn.
While waiting for these accounts, the great protagonist on Wall Street today is NVIDIA, which is aiming for a market capitalization of 5 trillion dollars, a milestone that no company in history has achieved. The semiconductor giant closed yesterday at 4.9 trillion in stock market value, and recorded gains of 2.74%. The latest rally comes after CEO Jensen Huang stated that NVIDIA sees AI chip orders worth $500 billion and has also announced plans to build seven new supercomputers for the US government.
The titles are also encouraged by Donald Trump’s comments aboard Air Force One praising the ‘Blackwell’ model of architecture for AI. The president has indicated that he could speak with Xi Jinping about it, without giving more details. Separately, NVIDIA on Tuesday announced the acquisition of a $1 billion stake in Nokia.
Yesterday after the closing he presented his Visa accounts, which has exceeded forecasts in profits and revenues in its fiscal fourth quarter. The credit card giant posted adjusted earnings of $2.98 per share on revenue of $10.72 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings per share of $2.97 and revenue of $10.61 billion. Shares are down slightly in the market.
CVS Health has handily beat revenue and earnings outlooks in the third quarter, while raising its guidance. The company expects adjusted earnings of between $6.55 and $6.65 per share for fiscal 2025compared to the previous guide of between $6.30 and $6.40 per title. Shares rise more than 1%. In the third quarter, it earned $1.60 per share on revenue of $102.87 billion. Analysts had expected $1.37 per share in profits and $98.85 billion in revenue. Shares rise more than 2%.
Aeronautical manufacturer Boeing posted adjusted losses per share of $7.47, well above the $4.59 per share that analysts had expected. However, Revenues soared 30% to $23.27 billioncompared to the 21,970 million expected.
Caterpillar has put on the table an adjusted profit of $4.95 per share, exceeding the $4.59 per share that Wall Street had expected. The income of 17,640 million also exceeds analysts’ forecasts, which had been set at 16,770 million. The construction machinery manufacturer soars in the New York day.
Regarding analyst recommendations, Morgan Stanley has raised Warner Music’s price target to $37 per share, from $35 previously, with a 15% upside potential.
In other news, Paramount has started the dismissal of more than 2,000 employees, as a result of its merger with the Hollywood studio Skydance. The cuts, announced internally by Paramount CEO David Ellison, will initially affect about 1,000 U.S. employees across divisions including CBS News, the Paramount movie studio and cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and BET. The rest of the cuts, some of which will affect Paramount’s international employees, will come later. In total, it plans to cut approximately 10% of the combined company’s workforce.
In raw materials markets, oil prices are trying to at least stop the bleeding after the losses of recent days, while still pending sanctions on Russia and the potential increase in production by OPEC+. US West Texas futures rose 0.07% to $60.19 per barrel. International benchmark Brent oil rose 0.05% to $63.86 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the price of gold once again exceeds the level of $4,000 per ounce. In its spot modality, it advances 1.94% to $4,016.46 per ounce.
The euro fell a slight 0.08% against the dollar in the foreign exchange market, leaving the exchange rate at 1.1643 dollars for each community currency.