US EQUITY OPEN: NVDA leads Tech and stocks higher after earnings and guidance impresses

OPEN: US indices open in the green with outperformance in the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 due to Nvidia (+7.2%) surging post-earnings. Sectors are all in the red, aside from the aforementioned Tech, with Utilities and Consumer Staples the laggards. There has been a couple of Fed speakers at Jackson Hole, while US data came in the form of jobless claims; nonetheless, with NVDA largely in the rear view attention turns to Fed Chair Warsh's address at Jackson Hole on Friday at 15:00BST/10:00EDT. WTI and Brent are firmer c. USD 0.70/bbl with little Middle East developments, as participants await the next move, from either side. G10 FX performance is predominantly eking out gains vs. the Greenback with the Aussie outperforming, while both the Pound and Yen seeing slight losses; JPY little moved following hawkish BoJ Himino comments. Treasuries are sold, while precious metals are modestly lower, trading around session troughs.

• Nvidia (NVDA): Gave long-term guidance for the first time, & sees stronger-than-exp. rev. growth in FY28, supported by broadening AI demand
• Salesforce (CRM): Profit topped, strong outlook & AI-related growth accelerated, helped by a large gain on its Anthropic investment
• CrowdStrike (CRWD): Top & bottom line beat, lifted guidance w/ recurring rev. growth remaining strong, supported by rising demand for AI-related cybersecurity
• HP (HPQ): Declining PC shipments & weaker margins from rising memory/commodity costs overshadowed strong rev. growth & higher profit outlook.
• Okta (OKTA): Strong Q metrics & lifted FY view
• Wendy's (WEN): Trian Fund Management currently has no plans to make a take-private bid
• Dollar General (DG): EPS, rev. & SSS topped.

A single-name earnings beat of this size driving the Nasdaq 100 while every other sector trades red fits the established pattern of index concentration, where the largest constituent's results function as a macro event in their own right and mask narrow underlying breadth. The first-ever long-term guidance is the structurally notable element: management willingness to commit to multi-year revenue visibility has historically been read as a demand-confidence signal, and it shifts the debate from quarterly beat cadence to the durability of AI capex across the customer base. The peer read-across is the usual sequence: semis and AI-adjacent software trade on the guidance first, with memory and input-cost commentary, as in the HP print, marking the margin transmission for hardware names further down the chain. With the event risk now cleared, attention reverts to the scheduled Fed address and the front end, a rotation that has tended to reassert itself quickly once a dominant earnings catalyst passes. The hawkish BoJ commentary with a muted yen response is consistent with episodes where verbal guidance alone does not move the currency without policy follow-through. As an open rather than a close, the gap's staying power through the session is the standard tell.