Stock Market Today: Stocks Retreat Ahead of Nvidia Earnings

Markets closed broadly lower on light volume Wednesday as traders and investors awaited a critical quarterly earnings report from generative AI leader Nvidia (NVDA). At the same time, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) bucked the selloff to become the first non-tech company to top more than $1 trillion in market capitalization. 

What's supposed to be one of the quietest trading weeks of the year was rudely interrupted by Nvidia – the most influential stock in the world right now – releasing second-quarter results after Wednesday’s close. NVDA has an outsized role in setting the market's direction, and for good reason. The company's status as by far the most important supplier of chips for everything AI means that it counts the other six members of the Magnificent 7 as its customers. 

Since the majority of the bull market's gains have been driven by this select group of Mag 7 plays, it's only natural that speculators and traders might take something off their positions ahead of NVDA's results. After all, the old Wall Street saying of "buy the rumor, sell the news" is as good as any in explaining NVDA stock's massive selloff Wednesday. Shares tumbled more than 4% at one point during the session, putting heavy pressure on the cap-weighted indexes, before closing down 2.1%.

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Of course, volatility has always been the price of admission to this high-flying name. Indeed, anyone who put $1,000 into Nvidia stock 20 years ago would be stunned – in a good way – by what it's worth today.  

Stocks on the move

While the market awaited the Nvidia news, a slew of consumer discretionary names continued to report mixed results. 

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) stock plunged 17% despite beating top- and bottom-line expectations for its second quarter.

As a result of its strong performance in the first half of the year, ANF raised its outlook for the full fiscal year. The company now anticipates revenue growth in the range of 12% to 13% and an operating margin of 14% to 15%. This compares to the retailer's previous forecast of revenue growth of roughly 10% and an operating margin of about 14%.

For the third quarter, ANF said revenue should grow in the low double-digits compared to the year-ago period, while its operating margin should arrive between 13% to 14%.

Chewy (CHWY) stock soared 11.1% after the online pet products retailer met revenue expectations and reported earnings that were well ahead of expectations for its second quarter.

For the third quarter, Chewy said it anticipates revenue in the range of $2.84 billion to $2.86 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of approximately 2% to 3%. Analysts were forecasting revenue of $2.86 billion.

Chewy also reiterated its revenue forecast for the full fiscal year, anticipating sales of $11.6 billion to $11.8 billion. It also raised its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin outlook to 4.5% to 4.7% from 4.1% to 4.3%.

Foot Locker (FL) stock plummeted 10.2% despite topping analysts’ expectations for its second quarter.

Foot Locker also reaffirmed its outlook for the full fiscal year. The company continues to expect revenue to range from a decline of 1% to a gain of 1%, comparable-store sales growth between 1% to 3%, and earnings per share of $1.50 to $1.70.

However, the retailer lowered its gross margin outlook for the full year, to a range of 29.5% to 29.7% from the prior guidance of 29.8% to 30.0%, which could explain today's slump.

At the closing bell, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4% to 41,091, while the broader S&P 500 shed 0.6% to 5,592. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.1% to finish at 17,556. 

Berkshire Hathaway tops $1 trillion

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway added 0.8% in a down market to break the trillion-dollar market cap level for the first time. Berkshire joins Apple (AAPL), Nvidia, Microsoft (MSFT), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) as the only companies with market values of at least $1 trillion. 

Although BRK.B is the first non-tech stock to reach such a once-unthinkable valuation, should anyone really be surprised? The Berkshire Hathaway portfolio counts Apple as a top holding, even if Buffett has slashed its AAPL stake. It has exposure to AMZN too. Berkshire shareholders don't appear to be alarmed that Buffett is selling stocks such as Bank of America (BAC) and Chevron (CVX). 

Whatever the Oracle of Omaha is up to, it's working very well on the price charts in 2024. BRK.B, which doesn't pay a dividend, gained 30% for the year to date through August 28. The S&P 500, with dividends included, returned 18% over the same span.

Only four analysts cover BRK.B, per S&P Global Market Intelligence, and it doesn't really matter what they say since they're looking only 12 to 18 months out with a long-term holding. Nevertheless, with two Strong Buy ratings and two Hold calls, Berkshire Hathaway stock receives a consensus recommendation of Buy with mixed conviction.

By the way, since 1964, Berkshire Hathaway has generated an overall gain of 4,384,748%. The S&P 500 gained 31,223% over the same span. On a compounded annual basis, Buffett has doubled the performance of the broader market over the past 60 decades. At that rate, a trillion dollars in market cap was just a matter of time. 

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