Stock Market Today: Stocks Edge Up Ahead of Nvidia Earnings

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Stocks opened lower Tuesday but found their way into positive territory by lunchtime following some mid-morning economic data. Still, today's price action was muted as investors look ahead to tomorrow's quarterly earnings report from Nvidia (NVDA, +1.5%), which has become a key event on Wall Street.

Indeed, Nvidia earnings will be released after Wednesday's close and Wall Street is anxiously awaiting the outcome. "NVDA results have been a key driver of the broader market short term, and the stock has added roughly 5 percentage points to S&P 500 returns for the year to date," says BofA Securities.

In a separate note, BofA analyst Vivek Arya calls Nvidia a "top sector pick" ahead of earnings. He adds that any issues related to potential delays of its Blackwell chip will be limited and unlikely to "fundamentally derail NVDA's longer-term momentum." Arya also says that any selloff in the chip stock should be viewed as an "enhanced buying opportunity."

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Super Micro Computer slumps after short seller report

Elsewhere in the tech space, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) was down nearly 9% at its session low before ending the day with a milder 2.6% drop. Today's pressure came courtesy of Hindenburg Research, which revealed a short position in SMCI. The firm also accused Super Micro Computer, which makes artificial intelligence (AI) servers, of "accounting manipulation."

SMCI "benefited as an early mover but still faces significant accounting, governance and compliance issues and offers an inferior product and service now being eroded away by more credible competition," Hindenburg wrote in its report.

The stock had a red-hot start to 2024 and had more than quadrupled for the year to date back in March. It has struggled more recently amid disappointing earnings and concerns about reduced AI spending, paring its return to about 93%.

Paramount Global falls on M&A news

Paramount Global (PARA) fell 7.2% after Edgar Bronfman Jr, the former chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, abandoned his bid to buy the media company amid reports he could not secure funding.

Bronfman threw his hat into the ring earlier this month, adding "one more twist to the long and winding road of Paramount Global's sale process," says Argus Research analyst Joseph Bonner (Sell). "The process has gone through so many convolutions and resulted in such destruction of shareholder value."

With Bronfman out, it appears that Skydance Media is in the clear to close on its purchase of Paramount Global.

Home prices keep rising

In economic news, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index showed home prices were up 5.4% year-over-year in June. While this is slower than the 5.9% annual gain seen in May, it's the largest rise for June on record.

New York, San Diego and Las Vegas saw the biggest increases in home prices, while Portland saw the smallest.

Consumer confidence improves in August

Separate data from The Conference Board showed folks are hesitant to buy a home. Indeed, on a six-month moving average basis, purchasing plans for homes fell to a 12-year low in August.

Overall, The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 103.3 in August from July's upwardly revised 103.3.

"Consumers continued to express mixed feelings in August," said Dana M. Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. "Compared to July, they were more positive about business conditions, both current and future, but also more concerned about the labor market." She adds that consumers were also a little less positive about future income.

As for the main indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.02% gain to 41,250 – a new record close – the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 5,625, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to 17,754.

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With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at a local investment research firm. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.