Nvidia’s rally to a record close pushed its market value past $5 trillion, a fresh reminder that AI remains the market’s dominant trade even after a volatile stretch. The stock gained 4.3 percent on Friday, and the broader Nasdaq has climbed 15 percent in April, helped by a bounce in chip names after Intel’s earnings beat.
That surge is running into an unusually loaded week, with megacap earnings from Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta set to disclose roughly $600 billion of capex plans, mostly for data centers. At the same time, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday, while traders will also parse the March PCE inflation report and first-quarter GDP data on Thursday.
For investors, that leaves a market that looks healthy on the surface but is still being tested underneath. A separate warning sign is sentiment: most Americans now think the job market will worsen, even as the unemployment rate stays low, while the Bank of England’s deputy governor said record highs in AI stocks and other risky assets still invite an “adjustment.”
The next big catalyst lands Wednesday night, when the AI heavyweights report and investors get a read on whether their spending is translating into revenue fast enough to justify the valuations. If the hyperscalers keep leaning into data-center spending, chipmakers such as Nvidia should keep the tape’s support; if not, the market’s current enthusiasm could meet a harder test just as Middle East oil disruption and inflation data arrive.
