Wall Street rises as Nvidia gains on Meta AI data center deal

US stocks moved higher on Wednesday (February 18), led by gains in Nvidia. The S&P 500 advanced 0.6%, standing 1.4% below its all-time high reached late last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 222 points, or 0.5%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8%.

Nvidia gained 2.2% after Meta Platforms announced a long-term partnership to build data centers using millions of Nvidia chips and related equipment to support its artificial intelligence initiatives.

The move illustrated the market potential tied to AI development in the U.S. equity market. At the same time, investors have been weighing concerns over the scale of spending by companies such as Meta on AI infrastructure and whether those investments can translate into higher profits and productivity. Those concerns have contributed to recent volatility in Wall Street trading.

Also Read: Steel, Aluminium stocks in focus as US signals possible tariff tweaks

Several profit reports from companies helped to lift stocks on Wednesday. They continued what’s been a strong reporting season for the big US companies in the S&P 500 so far.

Cadence Design Systems climbed 7.2% after delivering both profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. CEO Anirudh Devgan credited what he called “the essential nature of Cadence’s engineering software,” even as investors worry about AI threatening to remake the industry.

Analog Devices rose 2.1% after likewise topping analysts’ estimates for profit and revenue. The chip company said it saw record orders during the quarter for its data center business.

Outside of earnings reports, Moderna jumped 6.9% after saying regulators at the Food and Drug Administration will review its flu vaccine candidate after earlier refusing to consider it.

Also Read: Oil prices hold drop as US-Iran signal progress in nuclear talks

They helped offset an 8.7% drop for Palo Alto Networks. The cybersecurity company reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but it gave profit forecasts for the current quarter and the remainder of its fiscal year that fell short of their estimates.