A decline in tech stocks led the market lower on Wednesday as investors awaited chipmaker Nvidia's (NVDA) earnings report, seen as crucial to keeping confidence in the broader market aloft.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, was down almost 0.9%. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell more than 1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down nearly 1.6%.

Stocks are caught in cautious trade ahead of Nvidia's second quarter results after the bell on Wednesday. The $3.2 trillion AI juggernaut's report will serve as a litmus test for AI spending and the tech sector, and it could end up moving the market as a whole. Nvidia shares were down about 3% on Wednesday afternoon. The Information Technology (XLK) sector was the worst performer in the S&P 500, sliding about 1.9%.

Traders are expecting a swing of almost 10% in the chipmaker's shares in either direction, depending on whether hopes for another blowout quarter are met. Wall Street forecasts Nvidia earnings grew by roughly 138% and revenue by 113%, year over year. Updates on any potential delays for Nvidia's new Blackwell chip will be in particular focus.

Nvidia's stock is up about 160% this year so far. Shares were little changed in Wednesday's premarket trading after a wobbly start to the week.

In earnings, eyes are on Salesforce (CRM) results to shed light on whether software companies are starting to see a return on their AI investments. Meanwhile, CrowdStrike's (CRWD) report should give insight into the cost of the fallout from the global Windows outage in July.

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• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 1:30 PM CDT Josh Schafer
  

  Nvidia, AI remain key to the bull case for the S&P 500

  While there have been signs of broadening in the stock market rally beyond just tech stocks, Wall Street firms that see the S&P 500 (^GSPC) reaching 6,000 by the end of this year reiterated this week that artificial intelligence, and specifically Nvidia’s success (NVDA), remain a key part of their bull case.

  “Provided that the US economy manages a soft landing, as we continue to anticipate, and enthusiasm around AI rebounds further, we forecast the S&P 500 will hit 6,000 by the end of the year,” Capital Economics deputy chief markets economist Jonas Goltermann wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.

  Goltermann added, “Nvidia’s Q2 earnings report this week will be a key litmus test for sentiment around AI and the prospects for the tech sector more broadly.”

  Evercore ISI’s Julian Emanuel, who also has a 6,000 call on the S&P 500 for year-end, wrote in a note to clients on Sunday Nvidia’s earnings guidance will be a “short-term key as investors remain skittish on GenAI demand amid low AI Adoption.”

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 1:00 PM CDT Josh Schafer
  

  Early expectations for the August jobs report

  From a macro perspective, a key driver of stocks’ rebound over the past few weeks has been receding recession fears, as economic data has come in better than expected and many hope the July jobs report was more of an aberration than a strong early sign the US labor market is headed for a downward spiral.

  This has put the August jobs report, which is set for release on Sep. 6, increasingly into the spotlight. Several economists have argued that another weak report could prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 50 basis points at its September meeting.

  That outcome, however, is not the base case for the economics team at Morgan Stanley. Economist Sam Coffin argued in a note to clients on Wednesday that a large reason why unemployment hit 4.3% in July was an unusually large increase in temporary layoffs. As the immediate shock to the Texas labor market from Hurricane Beryl subsides, Coffin believes the increase in temporary layoffs “does not repeat.”

  Coffin and the Morgan Stanley economics team forecast that unemployment will fall to 4.2% while the US economy will have added 185,000 jobs an increase from the 114,000 seen in July.

  “We expect the reacceleration in payrolls to leave the Fed cutting 25bps in September,” Coffin wrote.

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 12:15 PM CDT Josh Schafer
  

  Stocks making the biggest moves Wednesday morning

  While investors await highly anticipated earnings results from Nvidia (NVDA) after the bell, other stocks are making big moves.

  Shares of Chewy (CHWY) are up more than 17% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings. For the most recent quarter, the pet retailer posted earnings per share of

  Meanwhile, shares of SuperMicro Computer (SMCI) fell nearly 25% after the company said it would delay the filing of its annual report for its fiscal year that ended June 30. The announcement comes a day after short seller Hindenburg Research claimed, among other things, “accounting manipulation” at the AI high flyer.

  Elsewhere in retail, shares of both Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) and Foot Locker (FL) fell by double digit percentages.

  For Foot Locker, comparable sales grew 2.6% year over year in the most recent quarter, well above Wall Street’s estimates for a 0.7% increase. Foot Locker’s shares had been up more than 75% over the past year.

  Shares of Abercrombie and Fitch, which had seen more than 230% rally over the past year, also took a breather after reporting earnings before the bell on Wednesday. Abercrombie topped Wall Street’s estimates for both revenue and earnings per share. However, CEO Fran Horowitz did reference an “increasingly uncertain environment” for retail in the company’s release.

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 11:30 AM CDT Josh Schafer
  

  Nvidia could be ‘pivotal’ for markets entering September

  The face of the AI-fueled bull market is slated to report earnings after the bell on Wednesday, and Wall Street strategists aren’t downplaying the significance that Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings release could have on the broader market.

  “With markets being back in striking distance of all-time highs, the Nvidia report could serve as a pivotal moment for stocks as we head into September,” JJ Kinahan, CEO of IG North America and president of tastytrade, wrote in a note on Wednesday. “Markets have largely regained the ground lost since July. However, the climb back has stalled a bit over the last several trading days. With so much riding on what Nvidia has to say, it’s very easy to see how markets could be facing a make-or-break moment, at least in the short term.”

  Charles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders, a macro equity strategist who doesn’t usually comment on individual stocks, noted that Nvidia’s status in the market warrants attention from those who follow the market at the index level too.

  “It’s the poster child for AI,” Sonders told Yahoo Finance. “And I think it’s increasingly important even though it is only one company because one of the themes throughout second quarter earnings season around AI that contributed to the pullback that we saw in technology, in the ‘Magnificent Seven,’ was maybe a timing disconnect between the [capital expenditures] associated with AI and the investments needing to be made versus the revenue generation associated from it.”

  Sonders added that all the answers to where the AI story stands likely won’t come from Nvidia’s earnings release, but “you might start to fill in some of the blanks given what Nvidia is going to say, especially as it relates to their outlook.”

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 11:17 AM CDTInes Ferré
  

  Super Micro short sellers make $1 billion in profits as stock plunges

  Short sellers were sitting on a pile of profits on Wednesday as shares of Super Micro Computer plunged.

  The stock tanked during the session after the maker of data center servers said it would delay the filing of its annual report for its fiscal year that ended June 30. The announcement came a day after a short-seller report accused the company of accounting manipulation.

  Wednesday’s more than 24% drop in Super Micro’s stock price made short sellers more than $1.07 billion in midday mark-to-market profits, according to S3 Partners data.

  “SMCI shorts have been building their positions since SMCI was in the $900s in April but have really put the pedal to the medal since mid-July,” S3 Partners head of predictive analytics Ihor Dusaniwsky told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.

  Short sellers are up more than $2.85 billion in mark-to-market profits since July 15, including Wednesday’s midday price move, according to Dusaniwsky.

  On Tuesday Hindenburg Research released a report stating its three-month investigation “found glaring accounting red flags, evidence of undisclosed related party transactions, sanctions and export control failures, and customer issues.” The firm also disclosed it had taken a short position in Super Micro.

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 10:35 AM CDT Josh Schafer
  

  Megacaps slide as investors await Nvidia earnings

  Nvidia stock slid more than 3% in morning trading as investors awaited the chipmaker’s quarterly earnings release after the bell on Wednesday.

  Other megacap tech stocks also slipped, with Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) all off more than 1%.

  Source: Yahoo Finance

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 10:00 AM CDTBrooke DiPalma
  

  Kohl’s shares get a boost as investors home in on raised profit outlook, inventory management

  Kohl’s (KSS) shares are moving higher in early trading, jumping by as much as 7% after the company beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations by $0.15 per share and raised its profit outlook.

  In Q2, the retailer doubled down on inventory management and expenses, leading to a 9% year-over-year decline in inventory. It plans to stay “committed to increasing inventory turns and managing inventory down mid-single digits,” CEO Tom Kingsbury told investors on a call.

  All this in an effort to be “competitive during a very promotional holiday season,” CFO Jill Timm said.

  Kohl’s expects to end 2024 with an operating margin between 3.4% and 3.8% alongside adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.75 to $2.25.

  The company did lower its full-year sales growth guidance as a “difficult consumer environment” persists and Kohl’s customers feel “the burden” of a higher cost of living, causing them to put less in their basket.

  It now expects same-store sales to fall between 3% and 5% for fiscal year 2024, more than the previously expected year-over-year decline of 1% to 3%.

  Sephora at Kohl’s continues to be a bright spot for the company. Total sales for the business jumped nearly 45% in Q2 year over year, with sales growth in the low teens.

  In 2024, the company added 140 total locations, surpassing 1,000 Sephora shops inside Kohl’s.

  “We’ve seen a nice crossover in terms of customers that are shopping at Sephora,” Kingsbury said, adding that “around 35% of the Sephora baskets have another product from Kohl’s in their basket.” As the beauty store attracts younger shoppers, it plans to move the junior section to the front of the store.

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 9:30 AM CDT Josh Schafer
  

  Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is a trillion-dollar company

  Shares of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) added about 1% early Wednesday morning to pass a $1 trillion market cap for the first time. Berkshire becomes the first company in the US that isn’t a pure-play tech company to cross a $1 trillion market cap.

  The stock is up more than 28% year to-date.

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 8:59 AM CDTInes Ferré
  

  Super Micro stock plunges after company delays annual report following short-seller report

  Super Micro Computer (SMCI) stock plunged as much as 22% early Wednesday after the company said it would delay the filing of its annual report for its fiscal year that ended June 30.

  The announcement comes a day after short seller Hindenburg Research claimed, among other things, “accounting manipulation” at the AI high flyer.

  “SMCI is unable to file its Annual Report within the prescribed time period without unreasonable effort or expense,” the company said in a statement. “Additional time is needed for SMCI’s management to complete its assessment of the design and operating effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting as of June 30, 2024.”

  The stock fell about 2% on Tuesday after Hindenburg said its three-month investigation “found glaring accounting red flags, evidence of undisclosed related party transactions, sanctions and export control failures, and customer issues.” The firm also disclosed it had taken a short position in Super Micro.

  Read more here.

• Wed, August 28, 2024 at 8:32 AM CDT Josh Schafer
  

  All quiet at the open

  US stocks stalled on Wednesday as investors bided their time ahead of chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings report, seen as crucial to keeping confidence in the broader market aloft.

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC), and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) were all little changed at the open.