Nvidia’s quarterly earnings yesterday were met with disappointment due to the lack of detail on the outlook and what is driving AI growth, despite a blowout revenue forecast of $78 billion for the first quarter. Nvidia shares fell 1.5% during the conference call, and by Wednesday night the stock was little changed. This signals investor scepticism around whether the AI boom will continue, with markets looking for more reassurance. The rebound in global equities following the easing of the “AI scare trade” since the start of the week is starting to lose momentum. The Nasdaq 100 Index retreated 0.2%, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.9%, while Asian chipmaker stocks slipped overnight.
Hajime Takata, the Bank of Japan’s most hawkish board member, renewed his call for raising interest rates, describing the nation’s once-frozen inflation as “heated to the core.” Takata’s comments highlighted an emerging divide within the BoJ between advocates for policy normalisation on the central bank’s board and the government’s pro-stimulus position.
On today’s agenda, we have Eurozone February Consumer Confidence at 10:00 AM, as well as US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims at 1:30 PM. Iran–US nuclear talks are also expected to resume in Geneva.
• Bitcoin fell 1.1% to $68,181.34
• Ether fell 1.8% to $2,063.60
• Spot gold rose 0.5% to $5,191.41/oz
• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1% to $65.50 per barrel
