AI Takes a Breather Ahead of Q4 Nvidia Results

• US stocks dropped on Tuesday as the AI trade cooled down ahead of Nvidia’s earnings report.
• Shares of Nvidia and Super Micro Computer both fell by about 5% in Tuesday trades.
• Solid earnings results from Walmart and Home Depot painted a solid picture of the US consumer.

US stocks dropped on Tuesday with the AI trade cooling down ahead of Nvidia’s fourth-quarter earnings results.

Nvidia and Super Micro Computer stock both declined by about 5% on Tuesday as investors take profits ahead of what could be a market-moving event when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang kicks off his company’s earnings call after the market close on Wednesday.

Nvidia has been largely responsible for spurring a rally in tech stock over the past year thanks to excitement towards artificial intelligence. Now, investors want to see how much financial strength is behind the AI hype.

Meanwhile, retailers Walmart and Home Depot reported earnings on Tuesday, with both companies beating revenue and profit projections. Walmart stock jumped 3% after it announced a 9% dividend hike and prepares for a 3-for-1 stock split later this month, while Home Depot stock traded about flat.

Of the 79% of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings results so far, 80% beat profit estimates by a median of 7% and 64% are beating revenue estimates by a median of 3%, according to Fundstrat.

Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Tuesday: 

Here’s what else happened today: 

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: 

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 1.66% to $77.16  a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 1.32% to $82.46 a barrel. 
• Gold climbed 0.57% to $2,035.60 per ounce. 
• The 10-year Treasury yield was flat at 4.27%.
• Bitcoin climbed 0.79% to $52,188.