Stocks fell sharply Thursday as the Nvidia
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Thursday's session was the worst one-day performance for the Dow since March, while the S&P and Nasdaq also posted their single session drops since August 2 as market participants anxiously anticipated remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell set to be delivered on Friday.
In the spotlight, Nvidia shares reached an all-time high early Thursday after the chipmaker reported quarterly earnings and revenue that exceeded already high Wall Street expectations. The company also raised its guidance for the third-quarter, expecting year-over-year revenue to increase by 170% to roughly $16 billion. Still, the stock closed just slightly higher amid the broader market sell-off towards session close.
Many analysts celebrated Nvidia's earnings report on Thursday, with some raising rating and price targets for the chipmaker even as the stock remained a strong performer already so far this year; Nvidia is currently up nearly 230% year-to-date. The stock is also on track for its third best year on record, according to CNBC, if the stock remains above 226% YTD -- trailing 1999's yearly performance of about 291% when the chipmaker went public and 2001's performance of the more than 308% gain for the year.
Weighing on the Dow, Boeing
Also on Thursday, Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker said that he does not expect the need for further interest rate hikes this year and could see cuts happening as soon as 2024 depending on economic data, CNBC reports.
On the other hand, Boston Fed President Susan Collins told Yahoo Finance that it is "extremely likely" that the central bank will need to hold interest rates high "for a substantial amount of time" to stabilize price increases.
"I think that it's going to take some time to really be sure that we are seeing the sustained realignment of demand and supply that is needed in order to bring inflation back on a path that will get back to 2% [in] a reasonable amount of time," Collins said in an interview from the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming, quoted by Yahoo Finance.
In economic news, initial unemployment claims fell by a more-than-expected 10,000 filings over the previous week to a total of 230,000 for the week ended Aug. 19, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Continuing claims, which track a week behind, totaled 1.702 million, coming in slightly higher than expectations.
Elsewhere, WarnerBros. Discovery
Looking ahead, market participants will turn their attention towards Fed Chair Jerome Powell's remarks in Jackson Hole, with investors searching for more clues on the central bank's monetary policy for the latter half of the year.