Market Minute

Nvidia (NVDA), which was already up more about 197% year-to-date as of yesterday’s close, will report earnings in today’s postmarket with the Street looking for $0.75 EPS and $33.21B in revenue, according to Zacks. Yesterday’s announcement of negotiations regarding $285M of funding to establish a semiconductor manufacturing institute in North Carolina through the CHIPS and Science Act seemed to give shares a boost heading into earnings day, as NVDA logged a 4.8% gain. 

Nvidia is the colossus of the stock market, boasting a roughly $3.6 trillion market cap that represents about 7% of the S&P 500’s total market cap of about $48.2 trillion. So, to borrow another image from Classical Greece, perhaps Nvidia is more like Atlas, the titan on whose shoulders the world rests; because if this giant stumbles, the effect could ripple through the broader market. 

Monday’s trading session actually looked like it could have been the start of a dangerous move for the bulls, as price closed below the lower level of an upward channel that begins with the lows from Sept. 6, as well as the 21-day Exponential Moving Average. These were potential early warning signs of trend change, but yesterday’s news gave shares a boost and they recaptured that 21-EMA quickly, which came in near 142. Momentum has been slowing in recent weeks as the market heads into earnings, which is not uncommon whenever a known event risk situation is approaching. 

If price breaks lower, the area near 144.50 represents the old highs from late October, and also roughly lines up with the previously mentioned trendline. The 21-EMA is just below, and then the 140 level represents the old highs from June. Beyond that, 130 represents an interesting support confluence in the old highs from late August, the 63-EMA, and the 50-SMA. To the upside, the old highs of 149.77 are the clear point to beat. But after that, perhaps the upper boundary of the channel near 160 could be a point to watch.

Lowe’s (LOW) is lower in the premarket, although it is up around 20% year-to-date. Lowe’s EPS of $2.89 and revenue of $20.17 billion beat estimates. Revenue year-over-year fell 1.5%, while comp. sales fell 1.1% due to softness in bigger-ticket DIY sales. 

Yesterday on Trading 360, Jan Rogers Kniffen said that he expected Lowe’s to keep trailing Home Depot (HD) for the foreseeable future, and Home Depot seems to back this up with its 6.6% revenue growth earlier this month (although comp sales fell 1.3% with lower tickets and fewer customer transactions.) LOW CEO Marvin Ellison cited storm-related sales as a boon, and said online sales were strong. 

Walmart (WMT) is gaining premarket and is poised to open at a new all-time high. EPS of $0.58 and revenue of $169.6 billion both beat estimates, with year-over-year revenue growth of 5.5%. Comp. sales for Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club U.S. were strong, gaining 5.3% and 7.0% respectively, with both seeing higher transactions and average ticket. 

As it continues to compete with Amazon (AMZN) with its own online shopping platform, Walmart reported that e-commerce sales were up 27%, and its ad business grew 28%. The company also raised its guidance for FY25 (this report was its 3Q25), pleasing the Street. CFO John David Rainey said, “overall, we are feeling good about holiday,” with toy sales up, but he notes that consumers are spending “more of their wallets on food than they have historically.” 

Tune into the Schwab Network for more earnings breakdowns!