Stocks kept climbing even as the warnings got louder, with Nvidia shares closing at a record and lifting the chipmaker’s market value past $5 trillion. The advance was helped by Intel’s surprise earnings beat and a broader rush back into AI names, even as the Bank of England’s Sarah Breeden said global share prices do not reflect the risks facing the economy.
In practice, the market is trading on two different stories at once. Nvidia rose 4.3 percent and Intel jumped 24 percent, its best day since 1987, while the Nasdaq notched a 15 percent gain in April; Breeden, by contrast, warned that “asset prices are at all-time highs” and flagged a possible snapback if macro shocks, private credit strains and AI valuations all reprice together.
That leaves investors with plenty of near-term winners and a bigger list of pressure points. Chipmakers have regained momentum, but the rally is also being tested by energy risk, with oil still elevated after the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz remaining largely closed, a backdrop that helped knock some money out of big-tech earlier this year.
The next test is whether the earnings wave from Apple, Amazon and Google extends the rally or exposes how much of the market’s optimism is already priced in. Weekend U.S.-Iran talks and any fresh move in oil should tell traders whether this rebound in risk assets can keep running or whether Breeden’s warning about an overdue adjustment starts to look more timely.
