US stocks today: Wall Street trades mixed; Dow plunges 80 points, Nasdaq gains 0.2%

Wall Street traded mix on Thursday as investors weighed stronger-than-expected US economic growth against record earnings from Nvidia, the American chipmaker at the centre of the artificial intelligence boom. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both opened higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded in red.Nasdaq jumped 45 points or 0.21% to 21,635 and S&P 500 inched up 1 point or 0.02% to 6,482.Dow, on the other hand, slipped to 45,483, down 81 points or 0.18% at 7.20 PM IST.Shares in Nvidia slipped about 1%, despite the California-based company posting a profit of $26.4 billion on record second-quarter revenue of $46.7 billion. Investors had been eagerly awaiting the results late on Wednesday, as Nvidia’s rapid growth has helped fuel gains across tech stocks in recent months. However, its shares weakened after a fall in key data centre revenue, raising questions about whether the AI surge can continue at the same pace. "The market seems to be asking whether Nvidia can keep up this pace as competition intensifies and AI enthusiasm starts to look a little overbought," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at traders Scope Markets.

Alongside earnings, markets reacted to US data showing the world’s largest economy expanded by 3.3 percent in the second quarter, up from the 3.0% first estimated in July. "After the initial release, there were concerns that the domestic economy was slowing quite sharply," said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm. According to the US commerce department, the upward revision was mainly due to stronger investment and consumer spending.

Growth was also supported by a fall in US imports, after businesses had rushed to stockpile ahead of tariff increases announced by US President Donald Trump. The figures could influence the outlook for interest rates, with the Federal Reserve expected to continue cutting borrowing costs to support growth. "Overall, this release probably doesn't change Federal Reserve thinking too much," Flax said, noting that a 25-basis-point rate cut is still likely at the Fed’s September meeting. "But a stronger than expected result from domestic demand suggests that there might not be that much scope to cut rates over the next 12 months."