Wall St ends higher in anticipation of jobs data, Nvidia tops estimates
FILE PHOTO: A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 29, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
NEW YORK :U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday, clawing back some ground lost during the recent selloff as investors positioned themselves ahead of Nvidia's much-anticipated quarterly results and crucial employment data that had been unavailable during the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown.
All three major U.S. stock indexes closed in positive territory, with tech strength putting the Nasdaq out front.
Chipmaker Nvidia, which has come to represent the nascent artificial intelligence technology that has powered much of the stock market's rally in recent months, reported better-than-expected earnings and forecast fourth-quarter revenue above estimates.
"The companies that are Nvidia's customers are expanding and continuing to grow their investment in AI infrastructure, so chip demand looks like it's set to increase," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Seattle.
"It seems early to talk about an AI bubble because the growth has been driven by earnings, which have driven growth expectations fairly higher," Haworth added. "We’re early in this investment cycle; we’re moving from building these models to implementing them."
Minutes from the Fed's October meeting showed policymakers were more divided than usual, lowering interest rates even as some members cautioned the move could quell efforts to cool inflation.
Gold pared gains following the release of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's October meeting, and crude prices slid on reports of a U.S.-proposed resolution to Russia's war on Ukraine.
The recently ended government shutdown resulted in a backlog of official economic data, which is now beginning to flow. The Labor Department's September employment report is slated for release on Thursday. Should the report fall short of expectations, it could affect the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision at the conclusion of next month's monetary policy meeting.
Even so, the Labor Department announced it would release a combined October/November employment report as the shutdown hindered critical data collection, so the Fed will have less information on the state of the labor market when it meets in December.
NASDAQ LEADS THE WAY
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47.03 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 46,138.77, the S&P 500 gained 24.87 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 6,642.19 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 131.38 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 22,564.23.
European shares ended nearly unchanged, drifting near one-month lows ahead of Nvidia's earnings.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 0.73 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 976.74.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.03 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.97 points, or 0.04 per cent
Emerging market stocks fell 1.54 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 1,360.21. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed lower by 0.32 per cent, to 697.91, while Japan's Nikkei fell 165.28 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 48,537.70.
U.S. Treasury yields rose after the U.S. government said jobs data for October and November would not be released before the Fed's next policy meeting in December, dimming hopes for a third and final rate cut this year.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 0.8 basis points to 4.129 per cent, from 4.121 per cent late on Tuesday.
The 30-year bond yield added 0.8 basis points to 4.7487 per cent from 4.741 per cent late on Tuesday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 0.8 basis points to 3.589 per cent, from 3.581 per cent late on Tuesday.
The dollar rose against the yen to its highest level since January as investors await the U.S. jobs report.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.6 per cent to 100.20, with the euro down 0.47 per cent at $1.1525.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.96 per cent to 157 yen.
Reports of a U.S. proposal to end the Russian war in Ukraine, along with ongoing oversupply concerns, sent crude oil prices sliding. U.S. crude fell 2.14 per cent to $59.44 per barrel, while Brent settled at $63.51 per barrel, down 2.13 per cent.
Gold prices advanced as investors sought safe-haven assets and girded themselves for the delayed employment data, but pared their gains after the Fed minutes were published.
Spot gold rose 0.13 per cent to $4,073.01 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.26 per cent to $4,072.00 an ounce.
