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The US stock market is rising on Wednesday, at least for now, ahead of some major tests for Wall Street.
The S&P 500 gained 0.4% after trimming its previous 1.1% jump.
It ends a four-day losing streak, the longest in nearly three months, that has been rocked lately by concerns that stock prices have soared too high and that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not make as many revitalizing interest rate cuts as expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 98 points, or 0.2 percent, as of 11 a.m. ET after earlier gains evaporated. The Nasdaq rose 0.8%.
Constellation Energy shares helped lead the market, rising 6.1% after the U.S. Energy Department said it was providing a $1 billion loan to help restart Constellation's nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island.
Lowe's shares rose 4.8% after the home goods retailer reported higher summer profits than analysts expected.
They helped offset a 1.5% drop at Target, which reported higher profit but also weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts had expected. The retailer hinted that problems could continue into the critical holiday shopping season.
However, the market's attention remains focused on Nvidia.
Nvidia reports its earnings for the latest quarter after the close of trading. Shares of the California-based company rose 2.6% to recoup some of their losses for the month, which topped 10% on Tuesday.
The company, which at one point was briefly worth more than US$5 trillion, became the biggest stock on Wall Street. This means his movements have a greater impact on the S&P 500 than any other stock, and on some days he can single-handedly control the direction of the index.
One way Nvidia can assuage criticism that its shares have soared too high, leading to difficulties this month, is by continuing to generate strong profits, as stock prices tend to track earnings over the long term.
Nvidia has also become a leader in the broader artificial intelligence frenzy as other companies use its chips to ramp up their artificial intelligence efforts.
These artificial intelligence stocks, along with Nvidia, have been the main reason the U.S. stock market has set records, with the S&P 500's latest showing late last month.
However, there are growing concerns that all the investment may not generate as much profit and productivity for the overall economy as previously hoped.
Critics suggest that the rise of AI is similar to the dot-com stock bubble that eventually burst in 2000, plunging the S&P 500 index by nearly half.
