Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq wobble post-Nvidia earnings, bitcoin jumps to record high

Nvidia (NVDA) shares struggled for direction on Thursday morning, flipping between positive and negative territory. The stock pared gains after surging more than 4% in early trading.

By 10:10 a.m. ET shares were trading down more than 1.5%. Nvidia beat on profit in its latest quarter but forecast slowing revenue growth.

Wall Street analysts however were bullish on the stock with Wedbush’s Dan Ives stating the company’s results were “flawless.”

“We would characterize results as another earnings press release from Nvidia that should be framed and hung in the Louvre given these eye popping results and unprecedented growth from the Godfather of AI Jensen and Nvidia,” wrote Ives.

Existing home sales rose in October as house hunters returned to the market.

Sales of previously owned homes increased 2.9% from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, marking the first annual gain since July 2021, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales climbed 3.4% from September.

Economists polled by Bloomberg expected existing home sales to reach a pace of 3.95 million in October.

“The worst of the downturn in home sales could be over, with increasing inventory leading to more transactions,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun wrote in a press statement.

Homes typically go under contract a month or two before the contract closes, which means the October data largely reflects decisions made in September and August.

Rates on the 30-year mortgages fell to around 6% in September. Cheaper borrowing costs typically spur more housing activity. But rates are now hovering around 6.7%, according to Freddie Mac.

“Additional job gains and continued economic growth appear assured, resulting in growing housing demand. However, for most first-time homebuyers, mortgage financing is critically important,” Yun said. “While mortgage rates remain elevated, they are expected to stabilize.”

The data also showed that the median home price rose 4% from last October to $407,200, marking the 16th consecutive month of annual price increases.

US stocks climbed on Thursday as investors digested Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings while bitcoin (BTC-USD) briefly hit yet another record high just north of $98,000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 0.%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) put on 0.6%, coming off a muted day for the major gauges.

Nvidia beat on profit in the third quarter, but the chipmaker’s revenue growth forecast slowed. Shares of the AI chip heavyweight erased pre-market losses to open 4% higher.

Meanwhile bitcoin soared more than 5% earlier on Thursday, climbing closer to the $100,000 threshold amid optimism that the incoming Trump administration will implement crypto-friendly policies.

Weekly jobless claims rose less than expected last week in a sign of cooling in the labor market.

New data from the Department of Labor showed 213,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending Nov. 16, down from 219,000 the week prior and below the 220,000 economists had expected. The weekly claims for unemployment have been falling steadily throughout the past several weeks after hitting their highest level in more than year during October.

Meanwhile, the number of continuing applications for unemployment benefits hit 1.908 million, up 36,000 from the week prior and the highest level since November 2021.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) jumped more than 5% to a record high Thursday morning, trading just north of $98,000 amid speculation of pro-crypto policies from an incoming Trump administration.

The token has soared roughly 40% since the presidential elections earlier this month, hitting multiple milestones as investors eye the target of $100,000.

Reports that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has discussed the possibility of a first-ever crypto policy chief for the White House has helped lift the token in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin has been a key component of the “Trump trade,” as the incoming president has promised to explore crypto-friendly initiatives, including the creation of a national bitcoin stockpile.

The Target (TGT) ticker page on Yahoo Finance is still seeing strong interest after the stock’s 21.9% post earnings drubbing on Wednesday.

Shares are up slightly in the the pre-market.

From top to bottom, Target’s results flat out stunk. The reality is the stock is likely to stay in the penalty box until Target could deliver at least two quarters of healthy earnings beats on the back of stronger sales.

I think Deutsche Bank analyst Krisztina Katai did a good job summarizing the issues:

“Results indicate a significant deterioration in market share, primarily to Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN). This, coupled with the necessary investments in infrastructure and supply chain modernization to remain competitive, suggests a longer time-line to recovery than initially projected. While we still believe Target’s long-term potential remains, regaining lost market share will likely require substantial price investments and stepped up promos, pressuring margins and profitability.”

Below I list out several of the challenges Target is up against.

Nvidia (NVDA) is under a little pressure in the pre-market after earnings last night.

Makes sense as Jensen didn’t blow everyone away with quarterly revenue guidance. But to be clear, the guidance was impressive — just not at the very high-end of some very robust Street estimates.

An important point, however, making the rounds this morning on Nvidia’s margins.

If the sell-off accelerates in the session, it could be a function of some near-term margin concerns as Nvidia ramps production of its latest AI chip Blackwell. Usually during ramp periods costs are elevated, and profit margins not at peak levels.

Notes Keybanc analyst John Vinh:

“Nvidia noted it’s supply constrained on Blackwell in the fiscal fourth quarter, and given the ramp of multiple platforms, expects gross margin to temporarily be in low 70s in fiscal first quarter 2026 before returning to mid-70s in the second half.”