Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Diverge After Nvidia Earnings, Economic Data
US stocks showed mixed results on Thursday as investors analyzed AI chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings report and assessed the economic landscape amid President Trump’s latest tariff announcements. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) declined by 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slipped by 0.7% after both indexes closed higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose by 0.3%.
Investors scrutinized Nvidia’s quarterly earnings, which exceeded expectations and indicated significant growth potential, alleviating concerns about DeepSeek and weakening AI demand. Initially, the results received a muted response as the profit outlook raised doubts on Wall Street, causing Nvidia’s stock to drop by over 2% after erasing early gains. The US economy grew at an unrevised 2.3% annualized pace last quarter, matching consensus estimates. Meanwhile, weekly initial jobless claims surged to 242,000, exceeding economists’ expectations of 221,000, signaling a softening labor market.
Friday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, will be the next data point investors focus on for economic clues, as the path to interest rate cuts becomes increasingly uncertain. Attention also turned to the latest escalation of President Trump’s tariff threats after he announced on social media that levies against Mexico and Canada would take effect as scheduled on March 4. This follows the president’s pledge on Wednesday to impose 25% tariffs on the European Union. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices, viewed by some as a gauge of faith in Trump, continued to decline from a post-election peak, falling by 2%. However, the cryptocurrency recovered from earlier losses that saw it drop below $85,000 to its lowest point since November.
Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Pops on Strong Streaming Results
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) stock surged by around 8% shortly after the opening bell on Thursday following the media giant’s report of subscriber guidance that exceeded estimates and a profit increase within its streaming unit. The company ended 2024 with 116.9 million global streaming subscribers, an increase of 6.4 million subscribers compared to the third quarter, surpassing Wall Street’s expectations of 4.9 million net additions.
In the release, WBD projected “strong DTC subscriber growth to continue throughout 2025” and that “we now have a clear path to reach at least 150 million global subscribers by the end of 2026, with corresponding strong DTC revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth.” Wall Street had expected 2026 subscribers to reach around 136 million. Additionally, the streaming division reported profits of $409 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of $55 million in the year-ago period. Increased bundling with competitors, in addition to subscriber gains in the quarter, helped boost profits. For full-year 2024, the streaming business turned a profit of $677 million, compared to a $103 million profit in 2023.
Although the company reported a slight revenue miss in the quarter and a wider Q4 loss than expected, adjusted EBITDA came in about 2% above expectations. Looking ahead, WBD stated it is open to experimenting with its pricing model after new reports indicated the company is halting plans to charge ad-free subscribers additional fees to access sports and news content. The company increased the price of its ad-free plans on Max in June.
“We’re openly continuing to experiment as to what the right model is and what the best way is to both drive engagement and first views or acquisition through that powerful content, but at the same time we’re figuring out a business model that works,” JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming and games for WBD, said on the earnings call.
WBD CEO David Zaslav also briefly addressed the demise of Venu Sports, a sports streaming service that was supposed to launch from Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney’s ESPN (DIS), and Fox (FOXA). It was ultimately abandoned due to increased regulatory and antitrust concerns. Zaslav believes sports bundles will exist in some form given the saturated market, telling analysts, “There will be an aggregation in a meaningful way behind a couple of the bigger global players, because consumers at some point are going to say this is too cumbersome and too challenging.”
Oil Prices Rise as Trump Cancels Chevron License in Venezuela
Oil prices rebounded above their yearly low on Thursday after President Trump canceled Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela. Traders also assessed the potential impact of
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