S&P 500 drops as oil prices rise, Nvidia decreases following earnings: Live updates

Jefferies analysts suggest that Nvidia’s push into the CPU market could lead to notable gains, particularly for Arm Holdings. They believe that upcoming product shipments, including the Vera-Rubin CPU, alongside growth from other products like Graviton and Axion, might elevate Arm’s share in the hyperscaler CPU market beyond the current 50%.

Janardhan Menon, an analyst, mentioned in a recent note that demand for Arm’s upcoming AGI CPUs is likely to soar, estimating the total addressable market could be nearing $200 billion.

In a call on Wednesday, Nvidia executives indicated that entering the CPU sector presents a $200 billion revenue opportunity, forecasting sales from standalone Vera CPUs to hit $20 billion this year.

The newly announced Vera CPU promises impressive performance, delivering up to 1.2 terabytes per second of memory bandwidth—effectively doubling what traditional CPUs can provide.

Menon regarded Arm’s projections of $15 billion in AGI CPU sales by 2031 as somewhat conservative.

On Thursday, the major stock indices began trading on a downward trend.

The S&P 500 fell by 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite decreased by 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 148 points, translating to a 0.3% decline.

SpaceX announced that it would offer shares from some of its highly anticipated public offerings directly through popular trading platforms like Robinhood and Fidelity. This shift aims to provide regular investors with opportunities typically reserved for major Wall Street institutions.

This approach deviates from traditional IPO practices, where retail investors often face limited access and buy shares at higher prices post-launch. SpaceX stated that retail investors utilizing these platforms will be able to purchase shares at the same IPO price as larger institutions from the start.

In pre-market trading, shares of quantum computing companies surged following news that the U.S. government would distribute $2 billion in grants to nine firms in this sector.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, along with the funding, the U.S. government would take equity stakes in these companies.

IBM appears to be the largest recipient, with $1 billion allocated, according to the WSJ. As a result, IBM’s stock rose by 6% early in the morning.

Recent economic data released on Thursday highlighted a slight decrease in jobless claims, solid housing figures, and a downturn in manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.

• For the week ending May 16, initial jobless claims reached a seasonally adjusted 209,000, a drop of 3,000 from the previous week and slightly below the expected 210,000.
• April’s housing data showed new housing starts at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.465 million, which, although 2.8% lower than March, exceeded expectations of 1.42 million. Building permits were also up, increasing 5.8% from March.
• The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index for May dipped to -0.4 from 26.7 in April, underperforming the anticipated 19.0, indicating some slowdowns in shipments and new orders.

The following companies experienced notable pre-market trading fluctuations:

• Quantum computing stocks surged after the $2 billion government support was announced. For instance, Righetti Computing jumped by 15%, D-Wave Quantum soared by 17%, and other firms saw gains ranging from 8% to nearly 14%.
• Walmart shares dropped 2% following a disappointing full-year outlook, forecasting adjusted earnings below what analysts expected.
• Rocket Lab’s stock fell 6% after SpaceX filed a prospectus for a future Nasdaq listing.

Reported by Reuters, Iran’s supreme leader has instructed officials to ensure that enriched uranium stays within the country’s borders. This directive could complicate ongoing negotiations to resolve internal conflicts.

The announcement has influenced oil prices and caused an uptick in U.S. Treasury yields while increasing pressure on stock futures.

Asian markets mostly rallied on Thursday, with a general upswing following Wall Street’s performance and rising hopes for a resolution in the Middle East.

The Nikkei in Japan closed significantly up by 3.14%, buoyed by a boost in semiconductor shipments. South Korea’s Kospi and the smaller Kosdaq also saw healthy gains.

In contrast, China’s CSI 300 index fell slightly, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index experienced a downturn during the last hour of trading.

There has been growing interest in investing in SpaceX through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as more people look to tap into the opportunities presented by the company’s potential IPO.

Here are some notable stock movements after hours:

• Nvidia shares slipped despite reporting impressive first-quarter revenues that exceeded analyst expectations.
• Intuit’s stock dropped sharply after announcing significant layoffs and missing revenue targets.
• Elf Beauty experienced a rise in shares following a strong performance in its fourth fiscal quarter.

As of Wednesday evening, S&P 500 futures saw a modest decline of 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures dropped by 0.4%, and Dow futures were down by 0.1%.