Nvidia shares surged more than 7% on Thursday after the chipmaker reported better-than-expected earnings and issued a confident outlook for artificial intelligence demand. The results eased concerns that the company’s growth could be slowing.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

As one of the most heavily weighted stocks in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, Nvidia exerts an outsized pull on the indexes, and its results are widely read as a gauge of AI infrastructure spending across the technology industry.

The strong report sent ripples across the technology sector. Marvell Technology also advanced on the back of its own results, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF returned to rally mode after trading sideways for months. Nvidia and Marvell are both top holdings in that fund, so their moves flow straight into it.

Salesforce shares climbed more than 21% after its earnings report. That helped lift software stocks broadly, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF approaching its mid-August high.

CrowdStrike also delivered strong earnings, and its stock gained more than 18%. The cybersecurity company added to the positive tone across the technology space on Thursday.

Broader Market Reaction

The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.3% on the strength of the technology gains. The S&P 500 gained about 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added around 0.4%, trailing the tech-heavy indexes.

Outside technology, much of the market appeared to be in a holding pattern. Traders are waiting for Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh to speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday. The annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has a long history of serving as a stage for Fed policy signals, which adds to the attention on this year’s remarks.

Bond yields have steadied after rising sharply last week. Investors have been watching Treasury market moves closely and trying to gauge whether the Fed will keep interest rates steady.

Weekly jobless claims came in at 203,000, down from the prior week. That was viewed as a positive sign for the labor market heading into the Jackson Hole event. Initial claims, released each Thursday by the Labor Department, are among the timeliest labor-market data points available to Fed officials.

Nvidia’s Hugging Face Deal and AI Comments

On Wednesday night, reports emerged that Nvidia agreed to acquire Hugging Face, an open-source AI model platform, for $12.9 billion. The deal has not been officially confirmed. Hugging Face hosts one of the largest public libraries of open-source models and datasets, a hub widely used by the developers who build on top of Nvidia’s chips and software.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang discussed the company’s AI investment strategy on the earnings call. He said his only regret was not investing more and sooner in AI labs.

Retail Earnings in Focus

Dollar General and Dollar Tree both reported better-than-expected earnings. The two discount retailers said they have been attracting higher-income shoppers, which helped support their results. As the two largest US dollar-store chains, their commentary on shopper behavior offers a broad read on consumer spending.

Although both companies beat estimates, their stocks moved in different directions. The difference was driven by their forward outlooks rather than their recent performance.

Technical analyst Frank Cappelleri said software stocks were among the day’s biggest movers. He noted that the software ETF held support after June’s pullback and broke out to the upside.

The semiconductor ETF also returned to rally mode. If Warsh’s speech on Friday points to a steady rate path, markets could see further follow-through into next week, with traders also watching whether the reported Nvidia-Hugging Face deal is officially confirmed.