Equities Pause and Reflect Positive Nvidia Earnings Report

The S&P, Dow Jones and Nasdaq indices have moved sharply higher since last November, with all three markets making new all-time highs in the month of February. Equities took a step back from new highs last week and had the look of a market that might have peaked temporarily and due for a break. A highly anticipated earnings report for Nvidia that was bullish on its own merit, and as compared to trade estimates, turned the potential break into a blip on the radar with new all-time highs being made in the stock market shortly after the earnings release.

Nvidia is a, if not the, world leader in artificial intelligence (AI) computing. The current environment surrounding AI stocks is a frenzy, with headlines and expanding market caps that resemble the dotcom phase of the late 1990s and early 2000s. When people reference the dotcom phase, it is often referred to as the dotcom “bubble." Several dotcom stocks that came out of nowhere in the late 1990s purchased a round-trip ticket, ending up right back where they started by the mid-2000s.

AI potential may seem limitless, but the ability to tap that potential is uncertain, and unknown. Replace AI with “the internet” and that statement would have fit the late 1990s as well.

Not all dotcoms or AI enterprises are created equal. If a bubble should form and burst at some point, there will still be individual winners as there was in the wake of the dotcom bubble burst. A stock market that rallies sharply across the board with the news of one company’s earnings report that isn’t a FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) member is either a reasonable indicator that a bubble is forming, or an update from FAANG to FAANNG is going to make its way into the vernacular soon.

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