LDN - Business

Stocks near all-time peaks as Nvidia earnings loom

[August 28, 2024] By Lawrence White and Tom Westbrook

LONDON (Reuters) -Global stocks held near record highs on Wednesday ahead of the release of results from chipmaking market darling Nvidia, while sterling hovered near a 2-1/2-year high as traders bet that Britain would lag the U.S. in cutting interest rates.

MSCI's gauge of all stocks across the globe gained 0.05%, near a record high reached earlier this month, as early August's turmoil receded amid signs policymakers have begun to tame the worst surge in inflation in 40 years.

Europe's benchmark STOXX index climbed 0.25% to a one-month high, boosted by technology stocks ahead of rosy expectations for the Nvidia earnings update later in the day.

Nvidia's market value has ballooned thanks to its dominance of the computing hardware behind artificial intelligence. The stock price is up some 3000% since 2019 and with a market capitalisation of $3.2 trillion, a move in its share price affects the broader market.

Second-quarter revenue will likely have doubled, though even that may disappoint expectations. Options pricing shows traders anticipate a near 10% - or $300 billion - swing in market value, likely the largest earnings move of any company, ever.

The results at the "so-called 'most important company in the world,'" stand between Wall Street and fresh record highs, noted Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda, and set the tone for the sector.

"The company's revenue and sales guidance is a barometer of AI capex, with inferences to be drawn about the health of the other mega-cap tech names," he said.

S&P 500 futures were steady during early European trading hours, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.01%.

Shares in Australian gambling company Tabcorp were headed for their largest fall since 2008, dropping 17% to a four-year low after the company warned compliance and other costs meant it would miss earnings targets.

Debt and currency markets were steady in the Asia session, though the Australian dollar briefly touched its highest since January at $0.6813 after monthly inflation data was slightly above market forecasts.

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card is seen in this illustration taken, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Globally, a weakening dollar in anticipation of U.S. rate cuts has lifted most other currencies because markets see U.S. short-term rates, currently above 5.25%, as having the furthest to fall.

The greenback held near its lowest in more than a year against a basket of peers, and was last 0.2% higher at 100.83, hovering above a 13-month low of 100.51 hit in the previous session.

Interest rate futures price 100 basis points of U.S. rate cuts this year and last week Fed Chair Jerome Powell endorsed the start of cuts saying "the time has come".

The tone contrasts with caution at the Bank of England, which has helped sterling become the top-performing G10 currency with a 4.1% gain for the year-to-date.

It hit its highest in more than two years on Tuesday at $1.3269 and eased to $1.3232 in European trade. [GBP/]

"In our view, the BoE is likely to only cut rates once a quarter going forward," Rabobank senior strategist Jane Foley said in a note, against a forecast for four consecutive 25 bp cuts from the Fed from September to January.

Rates markets were steady with 10-year U.S. Treasury yields at 3.82%, two-year yields at 3.87% and the gap between the two at its narrowest in nearly three weeks.

Heavy selling drove bitcoin down 4% on the dollar to $59,223. Gold held at $2,507 an ounce.

Oil retraced a recent spike as gloom on Chinese demand returned to the fore and Brent crude futures traded at $78.59 barrel. [O/R]

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook and Lawrence White, Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Bernadette Baum)

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