By Ragini Mathur and Utkarsh Hathi
Publication Date: 2026-05-20 14:33:00
May 20, 2026, 10:33 a.m. ET
The tech-heavy Nasdaq led gains on Wall Street on Wednesday, lifted by a rebound in chip stocks ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly earnings, which investors view as a crucial test of AI demand.
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company and the centerpiece of the global AI boom, rose 0.7%. The company’sresults are expected after the closing bell.
Investors will crunch the numbers for signs that appetite for AI infrastructure remains strong enough to support lofty valuations across the technology and AI space.
“The expectation is that Nvidia’s earnings will be strong. It’s the extent to which they are stronger than what is currently baked into markets will be important,” said James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones.
“The bar continues to rise for some of these companies. Can it continue to beat that bar? That’s going to be a critical aspect for investors.”
The broader chip sector also advanced on Wednesday. Marvell Technology rose 7.8%, Intel gained 6.3% and Micron Technology added 3.6%.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index advanced 2.9%.
At 9:51 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.63 points, or 0.07%, to 49,396.51, the S&P 500 gained 18.25 points, or 0.25%, to 7,373.20 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 105.36 points, or 0.43%, to 25,981.68.
Eight of the 11 main S&P 500 sectors were in the green, with the tech sector leading gains with a 0.8% rise.
U.S. stocks have come under pressure in recent days as a selloff in global bond markets drove…