Nvidia earnings loom as Wall St pushes higher; India hit with new US tariff

Investors are turning their mind to all things artificial intelligence as they await Nvidia’s quarterly earnings report after the trading bell, with stocks on Wall Street pushing higher.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump doubled the tariff rate on India to 50% over the nation’s continuing purchases of Russian oil, following through on a threat to impose import levies on Russia’s trading partners.

Retailer Kohl’s surged 23% after one of the next generation meme stocks reported better-than-expected sales, while Opendoor Technologies and Paramount Skydance continued to get whipped around with both on the red side of the ledger.

And the local earnings season continues with Air New Zealand and Summerset Group Holdings in today’s diary, while across the Tasman, results are expected from Qantas Airways and Wesfarmers.

AI update

Investors are awaiting earnings from chipmaker Nvidia, which are due after the closing bell, with the world’s biggest company expected to deliver record revenue and operating profit. Options traders are predicting a 6% swing in the stock’s price after the result.

Optimism about the pace of growth in the AI sector has been tempered in recent weeks, with the likes of OpenAI founder Sam Altman warning of a potential bubble.

“The results will be a test for the artificial intelligence driven move that underpinned the rally in US stock indices,” Bank of New Zealand senior interest rate strategist Stuart Ritson said in a note.

The S&P 500 index was up 0.3% in late trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%. Across the Atlantic, the UK’s FTSE 100 index dipped 0.1% and Germany’s DAX 30 fell 0.4%, while France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.4%, clawing back losses on Tuesday over fears about the future of the French minority government.

The latest generation of meme stocks were whipped around overnight, with retailer Kohl’s climbing 23% after the company raised the lower end of its annual outlook as quarterly sales fell less than expected. Meanwhile, fellow meme stocks Opendoor Technologies sank 14% while Paramount Skydance declined 7.2%.

US President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to hike tariffs on nations buying Russian oil, doubling the import levy on Indian imports to 50%, putting pressure on the labour-intensive industries such as apparel, textiles and jewellery in the world’s most populous nation.

The kiwi dollar traded at 51.27 Indian rupees at 7am in Auckland from 51.20 rupees yesterday, and was at 58.60 US cents from 58.46 cents.

Directionless

Australian futures are pointing to a flat start for the S&P/ASX 200 index as investors struggle for direction ahead of the Nvidia result.

Earnings season continues today, with national carriers Air New Zealand and Qantas both reporting on either side of the Tasman, while NZ retirement village operator Summerset and Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers are also among those scheduled to release their results.

Payments firms Smartpay, recruitment company Accordant Group and commercial landlord Goodman Property Trust are holding their annual meetings today.

Meanwhile, the latest tranche of Sigma Healthcare shares locked up from the Chemist Warehouse deal come out of escrow after the company reported a 41% lift in profit yesterday. Some 4.8% of the company’s stock can be traded, worth A$1.7 billion at yesterday’s closing price.

Ebos Group, which had supplied Chemist Warehouse, had $1.1 billion wiped off its market capitalisation yesterday, sinking 14% when it missed analysts’ earnings expectations.

Local data include Statistics New Zealand’s filled jobs report for July and ANZ New Zealand’s monthly business confidence survey.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Solen Feyissa on Unsplash.