Stocks fall after Fed minutes; Nvidia shares climb after the bell
Federal Reserve's most recent meeting but Nvidia's shares rose about 6% after the close on the semiconductor bellwether's stronger-than-expected revenue forecast.
The news also drove gains in other chipmakers.
Investors had focused on whether Nvidia's first-quarter results could meet sky-high expectations and whether the outsized rally in artificial intelligence-related stocks could be sustained.
Nvidia shares, which had closed weaker, have surged about 90% this year after rocketing almost 240% in 2023.
«The markets are just waiting for Nvidia to make sure that even if they beat… what does it look like going forward and what is the forward-looking thinking with justifying where valuations are,» said Megan Horneman, chief investment officer at Verdance Capital Advisors in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
«It's valuations that are more important so regardless of whether it's a knee-jerk reaction to the upside or to the downside, when we start to parse through that earnings report and look at the valuation that some of these companies are asking for, is it too high?»
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 201.95 points, or 0.51%, to close at 39,671.04, the S&P 500 lost 14.40 points, or 0.27%, to 5,307.01 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.08 points, or 0.18%, to 16,801.54.
Stocks struggled for direction for most of the session but weakened after minutes of the Fed's meeting showed U.S. central bank officials still had
faith price pressures would ease but slowly, due to disappointment over inflation readings.
The Fed's
