On Wednesday, Nvidia, the company that’s become one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks because of what had been nearly insatiable demand for its chips, will make its first profit report since a China's DeepSeek upended the artificial-intelligence industry by saying it developed a large language model that can compete with big U.S. rivals without having to use the most advanced and expensive chips.
Big U.S. companies have broadly been reporting better profits for the last three months of 2024 than analysts expected, which is one of the main reasons the S&P 500 set a record before sliding at the end of last week.
Major companies have warned about uncertainty over U.S. trade policies, while the University of Michigan’s latest consumer sentiment index plunged by roughly 10% over the past month in part due to fears about tariffs and inflation worsening.
This week will also feature updates on consumer confidence and inflation, topics leading Wall Street’s agenda following last week’s slump.
South Korea's Kospi lost 0.3% to 2,637.45 after the Bank of Korea cut its benchmark interest rate to 2.75% from 3%, its third cut in four meetings as it moves to support the slowing economy.
