Chip stocks jump after Nvidia smashes forecasts
STORY: European stocks were steady Thursday (May 25) following their worst two-day selloff since March.
Investors balanced concerns about the U.S. debt ceiling standoff with optimism over upbeat corporate earnings.
European chipmakers were the star act for markets.
Shares at both ASM and BE Semiconductor rose more than 6%.
Excitement was raised by strong projections from the world's most valuable listed chipmaker, Nvidia.
The U.S. giant forecast quarterly revenue more than 50% over Wall Street estimates on Wednesday (May 24).
It sees current-quarter revenue of around $11 billion - compared with analyst projections of $7 billion.
Shares at the company jumped close to a third on the update.
Nvidia said it was boosting supply to meet higher demand for its artificial-intelligence chips.
Such semiconductors are used to power ChatGPT and similar services.
Nvidia's gain in stock price lifted its stock market value by about $200 billion to record levels.
Adjusted revenue for the quarter ended April 30 was $7.2 billion - again above market predictions.
