Stocks rose Tuesday as the broader market was boosted by Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) following its first ever GTC Conference ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy decision on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped over 320 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite advanced about 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.57% or +29.10 points to 5,178.52
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.83% or +320.43 points to 39,110.86
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.39% or +63.34 points to 16,166.79
Moving Markets: Nvidia announced a new generation of artificial intelligence chip and software on Monday during the company's developer's conference in San Jose, California, boosting optimism in the company as it continues to be one of the frontrunners in the emerging AI sector.
Named Blackwell, the new generation of AI graphics processors are not a chip but a platform, according to CEO Jensen Huang, highlighting how the company plans to become less of a semiconductor juggernaut and more of a platfrom provider for other companies to build software on, like Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) or Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
The Blackwell processors are the company's successor to Hopper, or its current generation H100 chips which debuted in 2022, and include what Nvidia calls a "transformer engine specifically built to run transformers-based AI," that power popular technologies like ChatGPT.
On the Economic Front: U.S. housing starts and building permits rose at a faster-than-expected prate in February, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. Starts of single-family homes rose 10.7% from January and 5.9% year-over-year to a seasonally adjusted total of 1.521 million last month, while permits to begin construction rose 1.9% on the month and 2.4% from a year ago to total 1.518 million. Moreover, completed construction totaled 1.73 million in February, up 19.7% month-to-month and 9.6% annually.
In Single-Stock News: Unilever (NYSE: UL) shares popped higher on Tuesday after the consumer products giant announced plans to spin off its ice cream unit, which includes popular brands like Ben & Jerry's and Magnum, as part of a restructuring plan. The restructuring effort will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, the company said, adding that it expects to deliver about $868 million in cost savings.
"The proposed changes are expected to impact around 7,500 predominantly office-based roles globally, with total restructuring costs now anticipated to be around 1.2% of group turnover for the next three years (up from the around 1% of Group turnover previously communicated)," Unilever said ina statement.
Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) shares climbed higher on Tuesday as Reuters reports the company's founding family is exploring a potential deal to take the legacy retailer private. According to Reuters, Nordstrom is in talks with investment banks Morgan Stanley and Centerview Partners to contact private equity firms to gauge interest for a sale, the founding family's second attempt after it failed to strike a deal in 2018.
For Wednesday: All attention will be focused on the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision and remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell due out Wednesday afternoon as traders access clues on the central bank's next moves for interest rates.