Stock market today: Wall Street quiet as markets await chipmaker Nvidia’s latest earnings report

Markets on Wall Street were largely unchanged in light trading early Wednesday as investors eagerly anticipated an earnings report from chipmaker Nvidia later in the day.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were each down less than 0.1% before the bell, one day after the Dow hit another record high.

Nordstrom rose 1.7% in overnight trading after the department store chain easily surpassed Wall Street’s profit expectations on better-than-expected sales. It also raised its per-share profit guidance and said it planned to open another 21 stores by fall of 2025, on top of the 11 it has opened so far this year.

There was less investor enthusiasm for Bath & Body Works, which dipped 2.7% in premarket after the soap and fragrance retailer came up short on analysts’ revenue targets and gave a tepid full-year sales forecast.

Most investors and market watchers are fixated on the upcoming Nvidia earnings report. Big tech companies like Nvidia have become extremely influential lately, if not overblown, with its total market value topping $3 trillion.

“That’s the major question, and I think all eyes will be on Nvidia as they report this week,” said Bill Merz, head of capital markets research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “That’s kind of the elephant in the room, so to speak, that many investors will focus on.”

Nvidia has made a 159% gain this year thanks to soaring demand for its semiconductors, which are used to power artificial intelligence applications. Wall Street is expecting Nvidia to post second-quarter sales of $28.7 billion, more than double last year’s quarter.

Investors are also looking ahead to Friday, when the U.S. government releases its latest data on inflation with the PCE, or personal consumption and expenditures report, for July. The hope is that the data shows inflation easing further — or at least stagnating — so that Federal Reserve officials remain comfortable cutting interest rates at their September meeting as they’ve strongly suggested they would.

Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.6%, while German’s DAX rose 0.9%. Britain’s FTSE 100 retreated about 0.1%.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2% to finish at 38,371.76.

Toyota stock jumped 3.9% after Japanese media reported Japan’s top automaker was going to announce a cooperative agreement on fuel cells with European automaker BMW.

Fuel cell vehicles are ecological, running on electricity produced when hydrogen and oxygen combine and form water. Japanese business daily Nikkei reported a partnership will be announced next week.

Toyota Motor Corp., often criticized as falling behind the global push in electric vehicles, is a longtime proponent of fuel cells.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost $1.36 to $74.17 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.23 to $77.43 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 144.32 Japanese yen from 143.91 yen. The euro cost $1.1122, down from $1.1188.

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