Chip maker’s shares posted their steepest climb in a year, boosting indexes. Concerns about the profitability of artificial-intelligence ventures, convoluted debt deals underpinning data centers, and the future of chip demand had left some on Wall Street worried that the AI trade was petering out. Then Nvidia arrived with a nearly half-trillion-dollar shot in the arm. A big chunk of options traders this week were betting that the stock would fall after Wednesday’s quarterly report. On Thursday, Nvidia defied those expectations. Blowout second-quarter results sent the chip maker’s shares surging 8.7%, their steepest one-day jump since April 2025, adding $442 billion to the company’s market value. That trails only a $450 billion one-day gain by Microsoft in July, the largest such jump ever.

Buoyed by Nvidia’s rosy outlook, the S&P 500’s information technology sector gained 3.4%, pushing the broad index up 0.7%. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2%, or 106 points. The report quelled fears that chip demand would cool. Nvidia reported equity investments of $99 billion as of July 26, plus $25 billion in commitments, with long-term debt ballooning to $33 billion.

In software, Salesforce catapulted 23% after deepening its partnership with Anthropic, and Crowd Strike gained 21%.

Wall Street now turns to Jackson Hole, Wyo., for Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s outlook on interest rates.