It’s a Chip-Mania in the technology sector after ridiculously strong results from sector leader Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) sent tech stocks higher across the board. Other names are weaker amid debt default fears, though.
Meanwhile, gold, silver, and Treasuries are modestly lower along with crude oil. The dollar is higher.
On the news front...
Again, I just can’t NOT talk about the semiconductor and Artificial Intelligence play Nvidia. It crushed profit and sales forecasts for the April quarter, and released an eye-popping revenue outlook for the July one. Specifically, Nvidia said it should generate at least $11 billion in sales this quarter...when analysts were expecting $7.2 billion.
The stock was recently soaring more than 29% to an all-time high. Many other chip stocks in the US, Asia and Europe rallied on the news, too. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) climbed 9%, for instance, while ASML Holding NV (ASML) rose 5%. A bundle of leading foreign chipmakers collectively gained more than $260 billion in market capitalization!
Then there’s the whole debt mess in D.C. No one wants financial Armageddon. Or at least, that’s what Wall Street thinks the thinking is in Washington. But “just in case,” financial market participants are coming up with a Plan B should the talks fail and the US miss interest and/or principal payments on outstanding Treasuries.
This Wall Street Journal story goes through the contingency planning. Trading could continue in even past-due Treasury bonds, while banks could temporarily advance Social Security payments to average Americans on the assumption they’d get made whole when a deal was signed.
Meanwhile, late yesterday Fitch Ratings did what I warned might happen: Put its sovereign credit rating for the US on review. So did the smaller agency DBRS Morningstar. Any reduction in the US’ AAA rating could have broad implications for Treasury prices and yields and would ripple through other financial markets in potential unpredictable ways.
