Nvidia's Blowout Earnings Beat Sends Stocks Higher, Reaffirms AI Capex Cycle

Nvidia reported fiscal Q2 revenue of $96.2 billion (up 106% year-over-year, above the $92.3B consensus) and adjusted EPS of $2.22 (vs. $2.09 expected), with data-center revenue of $89 billion. Guidance for Q3 came in at $105.8-110.1 billion, and management pointed to roughly 70% revenue growth for calendar 2027 — nearly double the 44% analysts had expected. CEO Jensen Huang said 'AI has reached its inflection point. It's doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable,' adding 'the only regret that I have is that I didn't invest more and sooner.' Nvidia shares jumped 8.7% to $227.98 — the stock's biggest one-day gain since April 2025 — lifting the broader market: the S&P 500 rose 0.72% to 7,730.99, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.57% to 26,541.35, and the Dow rose 0.20% to 53,569.44. Semiconductor peers Broadcom (+4.5%) and chip names in Europe and Asia also rallied, while a separate software-sector rebound saw Salesforce (+22%), Okta (+28%), and CrowdStrike (+20%) surge on their own earnings — Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff declaring 'this is not the SaaSpocalypse.' The results eased concerns about a slowdown in AI infrastructure spending, a key support for growth amid otherwise soft labor-market and consumer data.