Stocks traded lower Wednesday as investors awaited Nvidia's
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
Semiconductor darling Nvidia is set to report its first-quarter earnings after market close, and investors are looking for any further negative impacts from the Trump administration's new restrictions on Chinese chip exports. The company previously said it would take a $5.5 billion write-down on inventory related to the new export license requirement.
The report is one of the most anticipated of the season, as the stock is a bellwether for the artificial intelligence industry. Over the past eight quarters, Nvidia has surpassed Wall Street expectations for its revenue and only missed one earnings forecast throughout that period. Still, the stock has struggled in recent months as a new AI model from China's DeepSeek and President Donald Trump's tariff policies cooled down the previously explosive demand for chipmakers.
Wall Street expects Nvidia to report adjusted earnings per share of $0.88 on revenue of $43.3 billion, according to Bloomberg consensus data, compared to its adjusted earnings of $0.61 on $26 billion in revenue from the same period last year.
The market is coming off of a winning session on Tuesday that saw the Dow rally more than 700 points after Trump said he would delay a 50% tariff on imports from the European Union to July 9. The broader market S&P 500 also added over 2%, while the Nasdaq advanced 2.5% as investors hope for more trade deals in the coming weeks.
Before the bell on Wednesday, Macy's
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Market participants also turned their attention towards the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's recent meeting released Wednesday afternoon. The summary showed policymakers grew concerned that tariffs could increase inflation and create "difficult tradeoffs" when it comes to future interest rate decisions.
"Participants agreed that uncertainty about the economic outlook had increased further, making it appropriate to take a cautious approach until the net economic effects of the array of changes to government policies become clearer," the minutes read. "Participants noted that the Committee might face difficult tradeoffs if inflation proves to be more persistent while the outlooks for growth and employment weaken."
Looking ahead, Nvidia's earnings are expected to impact much of Thursday's market moves. However, tariff updates from the White House remain the key driver of investor sentiment as the broader market is on track to close out the month with gains.
