Pre-Market Pulse 26th February – Equities eek out record closing high on the shoulders of Nvidia

Overnight – Equities eek out record closing high on the shoulders of Nvidia

Stocks eked out another closing record high on Friday, with all three Wall Street benchmarks scoring weekly gains, as artificial intelligence stocks had enough steam to keep the rally chugging along.

AI poster child Nvidia advanced again, rising 0.4%, and briefly traded above $2 trillion in market valuation for the first time. Nvidia’s gains on Thursday, the session after its blowout earnings, had propelled the chipmaker to add $277 billion in stock market value, Wall Street’s largest ever daily gain. Despite a smaller advance on the final trading day of the week, its performance still dominated the market’s attention. 25% of the weeks gains were attributed to NVDA

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday posted its second straight record annual operating profit, with its insurance business benefiting from improved underwriting and higher income from investments as interest rates rose.

The week ahead will see US and Eurozone inflation numbers along with major retailers deliver earnings in the US.

The intense concentration of the Mag 7 is now at 34% of the S&P500, up from 28.8% in just 3 months. The entire markets fate now rests on the market forward valuations vs the reality of what AI will bring.