Wall Street opens mixed following Nvidia results

Wall Street's main stock indexes are mixed in choppy trading as Alphabet weighed on the market while investors also focused on AI-heavyweight Nvidia's upbeat quarterly results and forecast. Alphabet dropped 4.0 per cent after the Justice Department argued to a judge that Google must sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its monopoly on online search. It weighed on the communication services sector, which fell 2.2 per cent. Megacaps such as Meta Platforms fell 1.1 per cent, Amazon.com lost 1.1 per cent and Apple shed 0.6 per cent. On the flip side, Wall Street's biggest company Nvidia rose 1.3 per cent to a record high after surpassing expectations for quarterly results, and projected fourth-quarter revenue above estimates. The stock had fallen earlier in pre-market trading as some investors were unimpressed that the forecast was its slowest in seven quarters. "Nvidia had a spectacular quarter ... but it is overshadowed by expectations. Great expectations are built in the stock and have been running at the rate at which Nvidia has been running," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth. Other chip stocks were mixed while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index was up 0.8 per cent. In early trading on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74.01 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 43,469.95, the S&P 500 gained 1.19 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 5,917.46 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 23.67 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 18,942.48. Nvidia has led much of the US market rally since mid-2023 on expectations that AI integration could boost corporate profits. The stock has risen more than nine-fold in the past two years and the company boasts a market value of $US3.5 trillion ($A5.4 trillion). On the day, the three indexes had briefly touched their highest level in about a week. On the data front, a weekly report on jobless claims showed they fell unexpectedly last week, suggesting a rebound in job growth in November. Money market bets were tied between expectations that the Fed will lower interest rates by 25 basis points at its December meeting or if it will stay put, according to the CME Group's FedWatch. "The employment picture is a little bit stronger and one could think that would give the Fed another reason to either pause in December or to slow things down in 2025," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. Investors also kept an eye on escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Meanwhile, Richmond Fed president Tom Barkin said the United States is more vulnerable to inflationary shocks than in the past, according to a media report. Comments from Federal Reserve officials Austan Goolsbee and Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr are on tap. Deere shares gained 5.1 per cent after the farm equipment maker beat Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit, while Snowflake its annual product revenue forecast. Crypto stocks such as MARA Holdings jumped 11.6 per cent and MicroStrategy rose 10.9 per cent as bitcoin prices soared to nearly $US100,000 for the first time. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.14-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.5-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and three new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 61 new highs and 54 new lows.