U.S. major indexes hit record highs… Nvidia nears $5 trillion market cap [New York Stock Market Briefing]

The three major New York stock indexes all reached record highs. Big tech stocks rose after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips remains strong.

On the 28th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 47,706.37, up 161.78 points (0.34%) from the previous session. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index rose 15.73 points (0.23%) to 6,890.89, and the Nasdaq rose 190.04 points (0.8%) to 23,827.49.

All three major indexes set record closing highs.

Big techs including Nvidia helped lift the market. Nvidia closed at $201.03, up 4.98% on the day, surpassing $200 for the first time. Nvidia's market capitalization at the close reached $4.85 trillion.

Investor sentiment improved after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed the idea of an AI bubble. Huang said at the GTC developers conference, "AI models are now powerful enough and customers are willing to pay," and emphasized, "This justifies the build-out of large-scale computing infrastructure."

He added, "There are $500 billion worth of orders tied to Blackwell and Rubin over the next five quarters," saying "they are driving unprecedented sales growth." Blackwell and Rubin are next-generation AI chips.

Nvidia also said it will invest $1 billion in Finland's telecom equipment maker Nokia, acquiring a 2.9% stake, saying it sees network infrastructure entering an expansion phase.

Mike Dixon, head of research strategy at Horizon Investments, said, "By historical standards valuation is quite high and most of the support that could come from the U.S. central bank (Fed) has likely been priced in," adding, "Now earnings have to drive the market, and we have certainly seen (strong results)."

Apple also surpassed a $4 trillion market cap intraday for the first time. It is the third company globally to surpass $4 trillion, after Nvidia and Microsoft (MS). Apple's market cap at the close was $3.99 trillion.

MS also rose 2% on the day. Its market capitalization reached $4.04 trillion. This is the first time MS has closed above $4 trillion. Earlier, on July 31, MS surpassed $4 trillion intraday for the first time in company history.

UnitedHealth recorded slight gains after reporting third-quarter net income that exceeded market expectations and its prior guidance. Global logistics firm UPS saw third-quarter results rise 8%. U.S. online payments company PayPal rose 3.94% on news of cooperation with OpenAI.

According to the CME's FedWatch tool, federal funds rate futures reflect a 90.8% probability of a 50bp (1bp=0.01% point) cut in the policy rate by December, and a 9.2% probability that any cut will be only 25bp (i.e., December hold).

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) volatility index (VIX) rose 0.63 points (3.99%) from the previous session to 16.42.

Jin Young-gi, Hankyung.com reporter young71@hankyung.com