Stock Market Today: CoreWeave AI Rally Lifts Wall Street

The stock market today delivered a sharp rebound on Wall Street, as investors piled back into artificial intelligence stocks after a strong earnings report from cloud computing company CoreWeave eased some of the deepest worries hanging over the market. The S&P 500 climbed 1.3 percent, the Nasdaq jumped 1.6 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 255 points on Wednesday, November 11, reversing much of the gloom that had gripped technology shares in recent weeks. The rally was broad, with ten of the eleven main S&P 500 sectors finishing higher, and it carried through to Asia and Europe, where chipmakers and data-centre suppliers led the gains. Yet the advance came against an uneasy backdrop: a hotter-than-expected inflation report had, only a day earlier, pushed traders to price in a growing chance of a further Federal Reserve rate hike in December, and the bond market was closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

For anyone asking why the stock market is up today, the short answer is CoreWeave. The company, which rents out access to powerful chips over the cloud for artificial intelligence work, reported third-quarter revenue of 3.66 billion dollars, up 168 percent from a year earlier and ahead of the 3.56 billion dollars analysts had expected. It also raised its full-year revenue forecast to between 13 billion and 13.3 billion dollars, from 12 billion to 13 billion, and said it expects to become profitable on an adjusted basis in the first half of 2028. Most important for a market that had begun to doubt the artificial intelligence spending boom, CoreWeave said it does not plan to take on more expensive debt through 2027, a signal that the borrowing binge which had alarmed investors is being reined in. The shares surged 24.7 percent, their biggest one-day percentage jump in more than three months, closing at their highest level in two weeks after having fallen more than 40 percent over the previous month.

S&P 500 Today and Nasdaq Today: A Broad Rebound Led by Chips

The headline numbers for the stock market today told the story of a market that had been waiting for a reason to buy. The S&P 500 gained 98.45 points, or 1.31 percent, to close at 7,619.38. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 400.31 points, or 1.60 percent, to 25,466.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 254.60 points, or 0.49 percent, to 52,486.49. Technology led the way, with the information technology sector rising 2.71 percent. Trading was thinner than usual, with the bond market shut for Veterans Day, but the direction was unmistakable from the opening bell, when the Nasdaq opened up 1.54 percent and the S&P 500 nearly 1 percent higher.

The semiconductor index jumped 5.66 percent to 10,564.11, its highest close since November 3, and the chip sector was the engine of the move. Micron closed up 11.9 percent at 811.30 dollars as investors bet that demand for the memory chips used in artificial intelligence data centres will stay strong. Advanced Micro Devices rose 7.3 percent, Broadcom added 4.0 percent, and Nvidia gained 2.9 percent after two consecutive days of sharp declines. Bloom Energy, which supplies power systems for data centres, surged 14 percent. The pattern was the same one that has defined this market all year: when confidence in artificial intelligence spending returns, the whole supply chain moves with it. Yet the CNN Fear and Greed index still stood at 37, in its "Fear" zone, a reminder that the rally followed a bruising stretch of doubts about whether the enormous sums poured into artificial intelligence infrastructure would ever pay off.

Why Is the Stock Market Up Today? The AI Trade Roars Back

To understand why the stock market is up today, it helps to remember what had been weighing on it. Over the past month, investors had grown nervous about the financing of the artificial intelligence build-out, as companies borrowed heavily to buy chips, build data centres and secure power. CoreWeave sat at the centre of that anxiety: its shares had lost more than 40 percent in a month, and each new report of heavy borrowing added to the sense that the trade was unravelling. The third-quarter results attacked that fear directly: revenue growth of 168 percent, a smaller loss than expected, a raised forecast, a path to profitability in 2028 and a pledge to avoid pricier debt through 2027.

The relief spread quickly. Reports of strong demand for Anthropic's planned initial public offering added to the sense that appetite for the sector remains deep. Anthropic's listing, expected next week, is now targeting a valuation of around 1.5 trillion dollars. Futures tracking the Nasdaq had jumped 2 percent and S&P 500 futures had risen 0.9 percent even before the opening bell, and the buying continued through the session.

There was also a counterweight in the background. Nvidia, the most important company in the artificial intelligence trade, fell more than 8 percent in after-hours trading on reports that its board may move to remove chief executive Jensen Huang, the subject of a separate story already covered on this site, involving an independent investigation announced on November 8. In the regular session, Nvidia had risen 2.9 percent, but the after-hours slide was a reminder that leadership questions around the sector's biggest name have not gone away.

Inflation Report and Fed Rate Hike Bets: The Other Side of the Rally

The rally was all the more striking because it came in the shadow of an inflation report that would normally have pushed stocks lower. Data released on Tuesday showed that United States consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in October from the previous month, above the 0.3 percent increase economists had expected. Core consumer prices, which strip out volatile food and energy costs, climbed 0.3 percent, also topping the 0.2 percent forecast. The hotter-than-expected figures cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again at its December meeting. Yields on government bonds surged on Tuesday in response, and the dollar index rose 0.67 percent to 102.92, its second straight daily gain.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller added to the hawkish tone, saying he would support a 25-basis-point increase at the December 9 meeting regardless of the consumer price data, and warning that substantially higher inflation could justify more robust action. He noted that the personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed's preferred gauge, had risen 0.5 percent in a single month and 3.7 percent over the year. After his remarks, the probability of a 25-basis-point December hike implied by futures markets jumped from roughly 76 percent to 96 percent, with a smaller chance, around 10 to 13 percent, assigned to a larger half-point increase. All 101 economists surveyed by Reuters expected a quarter-point rise in December.

The tension between a rallying stock market and a central bank preparing to tighten is the defining feature of this moment. Normally, the prospect of higher rates weighs on shares, because it raises borrowing costs and makes safer assets more attractive. On Wednesday, investors looked past that logic and focused on earnings instead. The bond market, closed for Veterans Day, offered no fresh verdict, and traders will watch its reopening closely. There was one small piece of good news for households: mortgage rates declined for a fourth straight week, with the 30-year fixed rate falling nine basis points to 7.21 percent in the week ended November 6, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, and home-purchase applications rising by the most since mid-April.

Global Markets: Asia and Europe Follow Wall Street Higher

The rally was not confined to New York. Major Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday, with the same artificial intelligence enthusiasm driving the gains. Taiwan's TAIEX surged 3.6 percent, led by chipmaker TSMC, up 4.8 percent, insurer Fubon Financial, up 4.3 percent, and chip designer MediaTek, up 4.2 percent. South Korea's KOSPI jumped 2.6 percent, led by memory chipmakers SK Hynix, up 5.4 percent, and Samsung Electronics, up 3.6 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.3 percent, led by chip equipment makers Advantest and Tokyo Electron, although technology investor SoftBank Group slipped 0.4 percent after posting a quarterly loss. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.0 percent, dragged by electric vehicle makers and food delivery platform Meituan.

European stocks closed sharply higher for a third straight session, buoyed by strong technology earnings. The Euro STOXX 50 rose 1.0 percent to 6,393, while the STOXX 600 gained 0.7 percent to a record 663.1. Siemens Energy rose as surging data-centre demand lifted its margins, profits and outlook. Dutch chipmaker ASML gained 3.2 percent and German chipmaker Infineon climbed 6.4 percent, while Deutsche Bank rose 2.0 percent and ING 1.3 percent.

There was also a notable shift in the global rankings. India overtook Taiwan to reclaim its position as the world's fifth-largest stock market, with the total value of its listed companies rising to about 5.4 trillion dollars after gaining roughly 640 billion dollars since late October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Foreign portfolio investors bought a net 6.42 billion dollars of Indian equities in November so far, helped by Brent crude sliding about 13 percent from 118 dollars a barrel at the end of October to around 92 dollars on hopes of peace talks between the United States and Iran. Brent futures were up about 1.3 percent on Wednesday at 92.71 dollars a barrel, while United States crude gained a similar amount to 87.13 dollars. Gold climbed 0.3 percent to 4,042.71 dollars an ounce, steadying near the 4,000-dollar level after a sharp sell-off the previous session.

What Happens Next for the Stock Market Today

The question now is whether Wednesday's rally marks a turning point or merely a pause in a longer period of volatility. Traders will get fresh signals on Thursday, when weekly jobless claims are released and earnings arrive from Cisco Systems, Applied Materials and Nebius, a further test of artificial intelligence demand. Friday brings the United States producer price index, the next scheduled inflation reading. The bond market's reopening after the Veterans Day closure will also matter: if yields resume their climb, the relief rally in stocks could face a swift test.

For now, the stock market today has given investors a clear message. The artificial intelligence trade, written off by some only weeks ago, still has the power to lift the whole market when the numbers support it. CoreWeave's results did not answer every question about debt, demand or valuation, but they answered the most urgent one: customers are still buying, revenue is still growing, and the company says it can reach profitability without piling on more expensive borrowing. Whether that carries Wall Street through a December rate hike is the question that will decide the rest of the year.

Source: Reuters