Nvidia Drives S&P 500 Gains as AI Enthusiasm Climbs Amid Rising Russia-Ukraine Nuclear Tensions

The S&P 500 edged higher Tuesday, led by Nvidia's 2% climb before earnings, underscoring robust AI demand. Meanwhile, geopolitical uncertainty deepened as Russia unveiled a more aggressive nuclear policy, intensifying the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict's global implications.

Tech Stocks Drive Market Resilience

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 gained ground as tech stocks, led by Nvidia, shrugged off earlier worries over rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Investing.com reports.

A 0.3% drop was recorded by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a 0.2% gain by the S&P 500, and a 0.6% gain by the NASDAQ Composite.

Nvidia Leads AI Surge Ahead of Earnings

Just one day before reporting its quarterly earnings, the most valuable listed corporation in the world, Nvidia, rose over 2%.

The next several days will see how technology stocks react to Nvidia's earnings, which are seen as a barometer for artificial intelligence demand.

As a result of high demand from the expanding artificial intelligence market, the stock price of the company has almost quadrupled this year. When it comes to artificial intelligence chips, Nvidia is unrivaled.

Super Micro and Walmart Post Gains

In other news, server manufacturer Super Micro Computer saw a 29% increase in share price following the announcement that it had hired a new auditor and was on schedule to submit its annual financial reports.

With consumers increasing their spending on groceries and other items both online and in-store, suggesting that Walmart may be gaining market share in the run-up to the holidays, the retail giant increased its yearly sales and profit prediction for the third time in a row, sending its stock price soaring by more than 3 percent.

"In our view, Walmart’s continued focus on price gaps, store standards and convenience options has enabled them to continue to gain share," Truist Securities said in a note on Tuesday.

Lowe’s Decline and Escalating Geopolitical Tensions

Despite better-than-expected Q3 results, Lowe's Companies predicted a drop in sales for 2024, which caused the stock to fall more than 3%.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the US, reducing the threshold for a nuclear strike. This comes days after reports surfaced that the Biden administration had allegedly permitted Ukraine to launch American missiles far into Russia.

Russia’s New Nuclear Doctrine Sparks Concern

Based on the new doctrine, Russia and its partner Belarus are now prepared to consider a nuclear strike in the event that they are aggressively threatened "with the use of conventional weapons that created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity."

The prior version had said that Russia might use nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear or conventional attack on the state's existence, but this new version changed that.