US stocks jump as Nvidia leads tech rally and investors wait on debt ceiling progress

• US stocks were mostly higher Thursday as Nvidia led a strong rally in the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
• The chipmaker saw its market cap close in on the $1 trillion mark after posting a glowing forecast.

US stocks were mostly higher Thursday, fronted by a strong rally in the Nasdaq Composite following the release of Nvidia's blockbuster quarterly results.

The chipmaker posted a glowing forecast for the second-quarter, sending the stock on a tear. Shares of the company were up 25% at the open.

"The computer industry is going through two simultaneous transitions — accelerated computing and generative AI," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said.

"A trillion dollars of installed global data center infrastructure will transition from general purpose to accelerated computing as companies race to apply generative AI into every product, service and business process."

Nvidia was closing in on the $1 trillion market cap mark, putting the firm in the upper echelons of mega-cap tech with giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet.

investors on Thursday were also awaiting fresh updates on the debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, DC.

Lawmakers continue to disagree over conditions to raise the government's borrowing limit. If there's not an agreement by early June, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the US risks defaulting on some of its obligations like paying salaries for government employees.

"It seems almost certain that we will not be able to get past early June," Yellen said during at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit this week. "If Congress doesn't act to raise the debt ceiling, and if we hit the so-called X-date without that occurring, there will be some obligations that we will be unable to pay."

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Thursday:

• S&P 500:4,150.78, up 0.86%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,744.76, down 0.17% (55.16 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 12,683.18, up 1.59%

Here's what else is happening:

• Insider breaks down everything you missed during Bill Ackman's first-quarter investor call on Wednesday.
• A top chip analyst says Nvidia's latest quarterly results shows that there's an AI "goldrush" on the way for equities.
• Investors need to realize that the Fed won't stop raising rates in 2023, a top-performing strategist says.
• The typical US home has a monthly mortgage cost that's roughly 25% more than rent, per Redfin.
• "Dr. Doom" economist Nouriel Roubini says regional banks are "certainly" going to face a credit crunch, which will erode growth in the US economy, he told Bloomberg.
• US inflation will be stickier than expected, Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon warned, adding that this could lead to more rate hikes from the central bank.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 2.5% to $72.43 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dipped 2.25% to $76.62.
• Gold fell 0.67% to $1,951.40 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose four basis points to 3.76%.
• Bitcoin dropped 3.57% to $26,252, while ether fell 3.33% to $1,792.