MARKET SNAPSHOT
Nvidia dragged the Nasdaq and S&P 500 lower. The Dow Industrials ended little changed. Treasury yields declined in a session light on data points. Oil futures edged lower after the first day of talks between the U.S. and Iran. Gold and silver prices fell. The dollar edged higher.
MARKET WRAPS
EQUITIES
Nvidia delivered another blockbuster earnings report Wednesday night. On Thursday, shares fell anyway.
The world's largest publicly traded company posted record quarterly sales of $68.1 billion, blowing past analyst expectations and marking the chip maker's best growth rate in four quarters. It wasn't enough: shares fell 5.5%, dragging the Nasdaq composite down 1.2%.
Some investors said the slide shows how, for AI-linked companies, the bar to please investors-and assuage bubble worries-keeps getting higher. That is particularly true for Nvidia, the industry's bellwether, and a driver of the markets' rebound from April's tariff turmoil.
Nvidia's decline was also the latest sign of a pattern that has defined the early part of 2026: Corporate earnings have been strong, but investors remain unmoved.
With roughly 94% of S&P 500 companies having reported fourth-quarter results, profits have grown 15% from a year earlier-the fifth-straight quarter of double-digit profit growth, according to FactSet. Revenue growth has accelerated to 9.5%. Despite those strong earnings, the index is up less than 2% for the year.
Technology stocks have borne the brunt of investors' skepticism, as concerns mount about stretched valuations and AI's impact on corporate earnings. The S&P 500's information-technology sector is on track for its fourth straight monthly decline, its longest losing streak since 2018, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Materials, meanwhile, are rising for a fourth consecutive month, their longest winning streak since 2021.
"With higher valuations, obviously there's a lot more pressure on current earnings," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management. He attributed the dynamic to investors looking past current results and toward how AI disruption could squeeze corporate earnings in the years ahead.
The S&P 500 lost 0.5%, with tech leading declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose-although by less than 0.1%.
Earlier Thursday, Asian markets were mixed despite a lift from tech giant Nvidia's earnings overnight. Lithium prices rose, buoying some mining stocks in Australia and China following news that Zimbabwe banned the export of lithium-concentrate materials. Battery-makers fell as a result.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.3% to close at another new record, led by tech- and IT-related stocks.
The Shanghai Composite in China ended flat. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.3% while the tech-focused ChiNext gave back 0.3%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.4%, while the tech gauge dropped 2.9%, dragged by a range of companies from EV makers to chip stocks.
Stocks in Australia rose, as the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5%. New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 increased 1.1%.
COMMODITIES
Crude futures settled lower in a volatile session as the U.S. and Iran wound up a day of talks in Geneva.
Prices saw wide swings as the market weighed the bearish impact of an eventual agreement against the effect that military action could have on supplies.
Oman's foreign minister, who's mediating the talks, said there was "significant progress" and that talks would resume soon. Technical discussions will take place next week in Vienna, he said.
Brent slipped 0.1% to $70.21 a barrel after trading as high as $72.61. WTI settled at $65.21 a barrel, off 0.3%.
Silver snapped its six-session winning streak, with the front-month contract settling down 4.4% to $86.998 a troy ounce.
While silver lost ground, it remains likely to have support from ongoing geopolitical turmoil heading into the weekend. Not only are tensions high around the U.S. and Iran, but they're also rising between the U.S. and Cuba.
"It looks like the markets may have another theater of interconnected geopolitical tensions to keep an eye on moving forward," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX.
Front-month gold futures settled down 0.6% to $5,176.50/oz.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Mortgage Rates Fall Below 6% for the First Time Since 2022
Mortgage rates fell below 6% this week for the first time in more than three years, welcome news for waves of house hunters heading into the busy spring home-buying season.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.98% this week, the lowest level since September 2022 and a slight decline from last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Mortgage rates briefly topped 7% in January last year, but they have fallen steadily over the past several months. Cooling inflation and economic uncertainty have helped bring them down, and the Federal Reserve's three interest-rate cuts in the second half of 2025 also added to the momentum.
Weary U.S. Farmers Brace for More Uncertainty as Profits Remain Elusive
U.S. farmers are receiving more help from the Trump administration this year, but for many, it is simply not enough.
Farmers, frustrated by years of thin margins, are bracing for another difficult year as less than half are forecast to turn a profit in 2026.
Steve Turner farms 3,250 acres of corn, soybeans, and other crops in Chandlerville, Ill., alongside his wife and two sons. His sons also operate a small trucking firm, with one of his sons selling seeds on the side. Jobs outside of the farm are common in rural areas, and they've become increasingly important for farmers needing to scrape by in tough times.
Shipping Industry Sends Strong Consumer Demand Signal For The Year
Major U.S. importers are facing off against the world's largest ocean carriers in an early gut check for trade in 2026.
Retailers are expecting favorable deals as they kick off talks next month for ocean shipping contracts that link factories in Asia to warehouses in America.
Spot rates to ship boxes from China, Japan and South Korea to the U.S. West Coast have been falling for weeks and recently dropped below long-term contract rates, according to Oslo-based transportation-data firm Xeneta.
Netflix Has 4 Days to Make a New Offer for Warner Bros. The Bidding War Continues.
Warner Bros. Discovery started the four-day clock running for Netflix to make it a new offer after saying it considers a competing offer by Paramount Skydance superior.
Warner Bros. said in a statement that it has notified Netflix of its determination that Paramount's most recent proposal is a "Company Superior Proposal." Under the terms of the Netflix merger agreement, this notice triggers a period of four business days during which Netflix has the right to propose revisions to its own merger agreement, the media company said.
Shares of Netflix rose 1% in after-hours trading, while shares of Warner Bros. rose 0.6% and shares of Paramount rose 0.2%.
Block plans to lay off nearly half its staff in 'deliberate and bold' embrace of AI
Block, the parent company of Square and the Cash App, is conducting a major reorganization in the age of artificial intelligence.
The payment-technology company plans to cut almost half of its workforce, it announced Thursday. The restructuring will bring Block's XYZ employee count below 6,000 versus more than 10,000 today.
The layoffs at Block come just days after Citrini Research rattled markets with the publication of a blog post detailing a fictional scenario in which AI productivity tools were so powerful that they forced widespread shifts in the U.S. labor market. These particularly impacted knowledge workers.
Dell's Sales Jump 39% With Further Growth Forecasted Ahead
Dell Technologies recorded a 39% jump in sales, driven in part by growth in its AI server business, and anticipates growth will continue into the new fiscal year.
The Round Rock, Texas, technology company on Thursday posted a profit of $2.26 billion, or $3.37 a share, compared with $1.53 billion, or $2.15 a share, a year earlier.
Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $3.89, ahead of the $3.53 anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.