Market Minute: Nvidia Stumbles Despite Earnings Beat

Many traders likely were waiting with bated breath for Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings in yesterday’s postmarket – but after some initial fireworks where price plunged about -8.5%, shares are now only down about -3% in early trading since yesterday’s close. Equity futures are running counter to Nvidia’s current trajectory, with all four major index futures up at least 0.25% each. This downswing for one of the most important stocks in the market happened despite the chipmaker beating estimates on both earnings-per-share and revenue. Nvidia came in at $0.68 for EPS and $30 billion in revenue, versus expectations of $0.64 and $28.42 billion, respectively, according to Zacks. Even the announcement of a $50 billion stock buyback program was not enough to push shares higher.

Now that the big event has come and gone, traders must assess this new price environment. Assessing the technicals, price recently broke above a downward sloping trendline beginning with the highs near 140.76, but was unable to gain much traction and mostly just moved sideways since then. Momentum also dropped off heading into earnings, as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) also broke its own upward trendline but remained above the 50-midline that separates bullish and bearish trajectory.

Today, Nvidia is retreating back below the previously mentioned trendline and finds itself near the level of the 21-day Exponential Moving Average, which closed yesterday at 121.22, with the 50-day Simple Moving Average just below it at 120.66. This confluence could be a key supportive area for price to hold as the day progresses. Below that, the 63-day EMA came in at 115.17 as of yesterday’s close, so this could offer another point to watch. For potential resistance, the set of highs from Nvidia’s recent range comes in roughly around 130, so be on the lookout for movement beyond this area. From there, the next set of relevant highs comes in near 136.31.