Wall Street Ends Mostly Lower as Nvidia Drags Nasdaq Down 1.2%
he number of Americans filing new unemployment claims rose slightly last week, while the unemployment rate appeared to remain stable.
Quick overview
- Wall Street closed mixed, with Nvidia's stock falling despite strong earnings, impacting other semiconductor shares.
- Jobless claims rose slightly, indicating a steady but cooling labor market, while unemployment rates remained stable.
- Geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran influenced investor sentiment as nuclear negotiations continued.
- Nvidia reported significant revenue growth, but concerns over the sustainability of tech investments led to a selloff.
The New York Stock Exchange traded with a mixed tone in a session marked by profit-taking in semiconductors. Markets digested stable labor data and closely followed rising geopolitical tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Wall Street closed mixed on Thursday, with Nvidia falling despite strong quarterly earnings, dragging down other semiconductor stocks. Investors also focused on a new round of nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, as well as the release of fresh U.S. jobless claims data.
Market close
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04% to 49,499.51 points.
- The S&P 500 fell 0.53% to 6,909.01 points.
- The Nasdaq Composite declined 1.18% to 22,878.38 points.
Jobless claims edge higher
Wall Street opened with a mixed bias after economic data raised some questions about momentum. The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims rose slightly last week, while the unemployment rate appeared to remain stable in February, pointing to a labor market that is steady but cooling.
Initial state jobless claims increased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 212,000 in the week ended February 21, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday. According to Reuters, economists had forecast 215,000 claims.
The data were influenced by the Presidents’ Day holiday, which may have distorted weekly figures. Still, the level of claims suggested that the labor market continues to stabilize after last year’s turbulence, driven by uncertainty surrounding broad tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
U.S.–Iran nuclear talks
Geopolitics also weighed on investor sentiment. U.S. and Iranian negotiators met in Geneva for their third round of talks this year on Iran’s nuclear activity.
President Trump warned that “bad things” could happen if no meaningful progress is achieved, as the U.S. faces one of its largest military deployments in the Middle East. A prolonged conflict could disrupt Iranian oil supply — Iran is the third-largest crude producer in OPEC.
Nvidia: a story of its own
Nvidia once again beat expectations, but failed to fully convince markets. Its shares fell about 3%, just hours after reporting quarterly revenue of $68.13 billion, above the $66.21 billion expected by analysts.
That figure represents 73% year-on-year growth, driven mainly by its data center business, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth.
So why the selloff? The core concern is whether the company’s largest technology clients — the hyperscalers — can sustain this pace of investment without damaging their cash flows. In early February, major tech stocks collectively lost more than $1 trillion in market value amid growing doubts about the scale, sustainability, and monetization of their artificial intelligence investments.
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