Wall Street ends higher, lifted by Uber, Lyft and Nvidia

It was a repeat of Monday with the tech indexes on a steady rise but with the Dow seesawing like crazy between a minus 80 and a plus 170. All closed the session nicely in the black after yesterday’s big panic. Nvidia made big news Monday when it overtook Amazon to become the fourth most valuable U.S. company. Today it made bigger news when it overtook Alphabet and is now the third most valuable company. Tech overall got a big boost, again mainly because of AI.  

But the best news came from today’s expert putting the whole thing in perspective: “The market should fear what the Fed fears. The Fed fears cutting too soon and having to raise rates. That would be catastrophic for this rally.” And even better news from the Chicago Fed prez stating that the 2% inflation target would still be on track even if price increases run hotter than expected. All in all, optimism was back today. Volume came in at 11.4 billion. 

Wall Street ends higher, lifted by Uber, Lyft and Nvidia

By Noel Randewich and Johann M Cherian

Wed February 14, 2024  4:22 PM

DJ: 38,272.75  -524.63        NAS: 15,655.60  -286.95        S&P: 4,953.17  -68.67      2/13

DJ: 38,424.27  +151.52       NAS: 15,859.15  +203.55       S&P: 5,000.62  +47.45     2/14

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended sharply higher on Wednesday as ride-hailing platforms Lyft and Uber rallied, while Nvidia displaced Alphabet as the U.S. stock market's third most valuable company.  Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab overtook Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab market capitalization ahead of the dominant AI chipmaker's quarterly results next week, now with a with a stock market value of $1.825 trillion after its shares rose 2.5%.  Uber (UBER.N), opens new tab surged almost 15% to a record high, boosted by a $7 billion share buyback plan.  Lyft (LYFT.O), opens new tab soared 35% after its profit beat estimates and it said it would generate positive free cash flow for the first time in 2024.  Helping lift the S&P 500, Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab both gained more than 2%.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.96% to end the session at 5,000.62 points.  The Nasdaq gained 1.30% to 15,859.15 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40% to 38,424.27 points.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O), opens new tab jumped more than 11%, adding to recent AI-related gains for the server equipment seller. That helped the Russell 200 (.RUT), opens new tab jump 2.4%, its biggest one-day leap since mid-December.

Wall Street indexes slumped to over one-week lows on Tuesday and the blue-chip Dow (.DJI), opens new tab posted its worst day in 11 months, after data showed core consumer prices in January stayed at nearly double the Fed's 2% target, forcing investors to reassess their rate cut expectations.  "Regardless of when that first cut is, I think the market should fear what the Fed fears. What the Fed fears is cutting too soon and having to raise rates. That would be catastrophic for this rally,” said Jake Dollarhide, Chief Executive Officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Providing some relief, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the path back to the central bank's 2% inflation target would still be on track even if price increases run a bit hotter-than-expected over the next few months.  Expectations the Fed will cut interest this year have fueled a rally on Wall Street in recent months that has sent the S&P 500 to record highs.  Interest rate futures suggest traders mostly expect the Fed to begin cutting rates by its June policy meeting, the CME FedWatch tool showed.

Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O), opens new tab rallied 13% following a surprise fourth-quarter profit.  Crypto stocks Coinbase (COIN.O), opens new tab, Marathon Digital (MARA.O), opens new tab and Riot (RIOT.O), opens new tab surged over 13% each as bitcoin's market value crossed $1 trillion for the first time since Nov. 21.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, nine rose, led by industrials (.SPLRCI), opens new tab, up 1.67%, followed by a 1.42% gain in communication services (.SPLRCL), opens new tab.  Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX), opens new tab by a 3.6-to-one ratio.  The S&P 500 posted 37 new highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 92 new highs and 68 new lows. 

Per the CBOE, volume came in at about 11.4 billion.