US stocks: S&P 500, Nasdaq rise as CoreWeave results ease AI spending concerns

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced on Wednesday as strong results from CoreWeave eased concerns about heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

CoreWeave shares surged 12.7% after the neocloud company said it expects to become profitable on an adjusted basis in the first half of 2028. The forecast helped reassure investors that robust demand and customer commitments could support its debt-funded expansion.

“CoreWeave was emblematic of the shift from viewing all AI investments as good investments to taking a more sober look at the returns on the billions of dollars being spent on AI. The earnings report helped ease some of those concerns,” said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.


The results lifted other AI infrastructure stocks. Nebius Group jumped 12.5%, while Applied Digital gained 5.2%.

Nvidia rose 2.4% after losing about $430 billion in market value over the previous two sessions. The stock had come under pressure amid reports concerning CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with a businesswoman alleged to have links to Chinese intelligence.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed 3% to a one-week high. Marvell Technology rose 5.5%, while Micron Technology gained 6.8%. Data-storage companies Seagate Technology and Western Digital also traded higher.

Equity markets have been volatile this week as concerns about slower data-centre development, elevated interest rates and uncertainty surrounding Nvidia compete with investors’ appetite to buy stocks after the recent sell-off.

Investors bought equities during last week’s decline, with all net inflows coming through exchange-traded funds and institutional clients leading purchases, Bank of America Global Research analysts said in a note.

At 9:49 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 73.82 points, or 0.13%, at 52,162.06. The S&P 500 rose 57.14 points, or 0.76%, to 7,578.07, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 288.47 points, or 1.16%, to 25,354.34.

Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors traded higher, led by technology and energy.

The CBOE Volatility Index, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell for a fourth consecutive session to 18.48.

Investors also assessed the terms of Anthropic’s planned initial public offering. The Claude chatbot developer is seeking a valuation of as much as $1.4 trillion.

Interest-rate concerns persist

Hotter-than-expected inflation data released on Tuesday strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in December.

Before the CPI report, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said policymakers should consider a 50-basis-point increase if October inflation accelerated. He warned that a more modest move could undermine the central bank’s credibility in fighting inflation.

Traders fully expect a rate increase next month and assign an 11.5% probability to a half-percentage-point move, according to CME FedWatch.

Oil prices rose 1.8% after touching two-month lows in the previous session. The rebound followed comments from Iran’s security chief that Tehran would not allow enriched nuclear material to leave the country.

The US bond market was closed for Veterans Day.

Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by 1.01 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange and by 1.57 to 1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 recorded eight new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite posted 32 new highs and 51 new lows.

(Disclaimer: This article is based on inputs from agencies. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)