Nvidia Leads US Stock Market Higher    02/18 15:28

   The U.S. stock market ticked higher on Wednesday, led by its most 
influential stock, Nvidia.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market ticked higher on Wednesday, led by 
its most influential stock, Nvidia.

   The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and pulled a bit closer to its all-time high set late 
last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 129 points, or 0.3%, and the 
Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%.

   Nvidia helped lift the market and climbed 1.6% after Meta Platforms 
announced a long-term partnership where it will use millions of chips and other 
equipment from Nvidia for its artificial-intelligence data centers.

   "No one deploys AI at Meta's scale," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. Because 
his company is the most valuable on Wall Street, Nvidia's stock was the single 
most powerful force pulling the S&P 500 higher.

   That performance demonstrated the upside of AI development for the U.S. 
stock market. But investors have also focused on the potential downsides 
recently, which has led to sharp swings for Wall Street. Worries are rising, 
for example, about how much companies like Meta are spending on AI and whether 
they can make back their huge investments through higher profits and 
productivity in the future.

   Meta's stock fell as much as 1.7% before recovering and rising 0.6%.

   Another worry is that if AI succeeds in creating tools to do complicated 
tasks more cheaply, companies in industries as far flung as software and legal 
services and trucking logistics could see their businesses get undercut. That 
has pushed investors to suddenly and aggressively punish stocks of companies 
seen as under threat, and analysts have likened it to a "shoot first-ask 
questions later" mentality.

   Several profit reports from companies helped to lift stocks Wednesday. They 
continued what's been a strong reporting season for the big U.S. companies in 
the S&P 500.

   Cadence Design Systems climbed 7.6% after delivering both profit and revenue 
for the latest quarter that topped analysts' expectations. CEO Anirudh Devgan 
credited what he called "the essential nature of Cadence's engineering 
software," even as investors worry about AI threatening to remake the industry.

   Analog Devices rose 2.6% after likewise topping analysts' estimates for 
profit and revenue. The chip company said it saw record orders during the 
quarter for its data center business.

   Outside of earnings reports, Moderna jumped 6.1% after saying regulators at 
the Food and Drug Administration will review its flu vaccine candidate after 
earlier refusing to consider it.

   They helped offset a 6.8% drop for Palo Alto Networks. The cybersecurity 
company reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected, but it gave profit forecasts for the current quarter and the 
remainder of its fiscal year that fell short of their estimates.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 38.09 points to 6,881.31. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average added 129.47 to 49,662.66, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 
175.25 to 22,753.63.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher following reports on the 
U.S. economy that came in better than economists expected. The yield on the 
10-year Treasury rose to 4.08% from 4.05% late Tuesday.

   One report said that industrial production improved last month by more than 
economists expected. Another said orders for computers, fabricated metal 
products and other long-lasting manufactured goods rose more in December than 
economists expected, when not including airplanes and other transportation 
equipment. A third report said homebuilders broke ground on more new homes in 
December than expected.

   Such strong data could encourage the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates 
steady.

   The Fed has put its cuts to interest rates on hold, but many on Wall Street 
expect it to resume later this year. The widespread forecast is that will come 
during the summer, after a new chair is scheduled to step in atop the Fed.

   Minutes released Wednesday from the Fed's last meeting, though, showed many 
officials want to see inflation fall further before they would support 
additional interest rate cuts this year.

   Lower rates can give a boost to the economy and prices for investments, but 
that comes at the cost of potentially worsening inflation.

   In stock markets abroad, London's FTSE 100 climbed 1.2% after the latest 
update on U.K. inflation bolstered expectations that the Bank of England may 
soon cut interest rates.

   Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1% as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was reappointed 
by the parliament following a landslide victory for her ruling Liberal 
Democrats in a Feb. 8 election. The expectation is that she will push through 
policies to help the economy and markets.

   Elsewhere in Asia, several markets were closed for the Lunar New Year 
holiday.