Nvidia Soars 8.7% and Powers a Tech-Only Rally as Wall Street Waits on Jackson Hole

The answer the market had been waiting for landed with a bang. A day after Nvidia dropped a blockbuster earnings report after the bell, traders piled in: the chip giant soared 8.7%, its biggest single-day jump since early 2025, and reignited the entire artificial-intelligence trade. Software names roared alongside it, and the Nasdaq jumped 1.5%. But look under the surface and the rally was oddly narrow, tech did almost all the lifting, while the rest of the market held its breath for the Fed's Jackson Hole meeting.

Market snapshot

Index closes are for the Thursday 27 August session; single-stock, commodity and FX figures are approximate and sourced from live price pages. Always check live prices with your broker.

Nvidia reignites the AI trade

This was Nvidia's day, and by extension the whole market's. After Wednesday's after-hours report smashed expectations, with revenue up 106% and guidance pointing to roughly $108 billion in sales next quarter, investors bid the stock up 8.7%, its strongest single-day gain in well over a year. The importance goes far beyond one company: Nvidia is the linchpin of the AI trade, and a result this strong told the market that the spending on AI infrastructure is not slowing. That optimism spread fast through the tech complex, with Salesforce soaring about 23%, powered by a new "Claudeforce" partnership with Anthropic and a big earnings beat, and CrowdStrike jumping around 19% on its own results. Nvidia even found time to announce a roughly $12.9 billion deal to buy Hugging Face, a hub for open-source AI models. For one session, at least, every doubt about the AI boom was drowned out.

Live gold chart (last three months). Prices shown are current, not the session covered above.

But it was a narrow rally

Here is the detail worth noticing. For all the fireworks, the gains were concentrated in a handful of technology names. Tech was the only sector in the S&P 500 to advance, which is why the tech-heavy Nasdaq flew while the industrial-heavy Dow finished flat. A rally this narrow is a double-edged thing: it shows how much firepower a single great earnings report can unleash, but it also shows how much the whole index now leans on a few giant stocks. When leadership is that concentrated, the market is strong on the days those names deliver, and exposed on the days they stumble.

All eyes now turn to Jackson Hole

With earnings largely digested, the next catalyst is the Fed. The annual Jackson Hole symposium got under way, and traders are focused on the keynote from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh for any steer on the path of interest rates. That wait kept a lid on the rest of the market and left gold steadying around $4,600, just shy of its record, supported by lingering worries over US debt and a soft dollar but capped until the Fed shows its hand. Bond yields sat quietly near 4.65%, oil slipped below $82, and the dollar stayed soft, nudging the euro up toward 1.165. Everything, for now, is on pause for the Fed.

What it means for traders

Two threads run through the session. First, the AI trade is very much alive, and it is powerful enough to carry the headline indices on its own, but that narrow leadership is a risk worth respecting: indices that lean on a few names can turn quickly. Second, the Fed now takes centre stage. Whatever Warsh signals at Jackson Hole about the timing of rate moves can push yields, the dollar and gold together in a single afternoon. That combination, stretched tech and a live Fed event, is exactly the sort of backdrop that produces sharp, sudden moves. The response does not change: keep risk small per trade, size every position deliberately, and if you are trading gold into the Fed, start with how to trade gold. You can read what set all this up in yesterday's wrap.

This market wrap is for information and education only and is not financial advice, a forecast, or a recommendation to buy or sell any instrument. Prices, yields and percentage moves are approximate, sourced from public price pages and reports, and may be delayed or revised; single-stock moves cited are for context. Trading forex, CFDs and leveraged products carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors; you can lose more than your deposit. Always do your own research.