US stocks tick higher ahead of key earnings report from Nvidia

• US stocks edged higher on Wednesday as investors await a key earnings report from Nvidia after the market close.
• Second-quarter earnings have come in stronger than expected, with 81% of companies that have reported so far beating profit estimates.
• After the Nvidia earnings report, investors will turn their attention to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday.

US stocks edged higher on Wednesday as investors prepare for two market-moving events this week.

Nvidia is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings results after the market close today, representing the last big earnings report of the season. So far, second-quarter earnings results have held up relatively well.

Of the 95% of S&P 500 companies that have already reported results, 81% beat profit estimates by a median of 7%, while 64% beat revenue estimates by a median of 3%, according to data from Fundstrat.

For Nvidia, investors will be entirely focused on the company's third-quarter outlook with hopes that the strong demand it's seeing for its AI enabling chips like the H100 will spill over into the second half of the year and beyond.

After Nvidia's earnings report, investors will turn their attention to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's upcoming speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium this Friday. Investors will be looking for any clues from Powell about the future direction of interest rates.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 4,402.41, up 0.35%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,337.82, up 0.14% (+48.99 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 13,564.91, up 0.4%

Here's what else is going on today:

• Bill Gross said investors are set for disappointment as their expectations of an AI revolution continue to grow.
• Tesla stock has lost nearly $200 billion in market value over the past month as it sees surging inventories of its electric vehicles.
• Vladimir Putin attacked the US dollar ahead of the BRICS summit as more countries band together to de-dollarize their economies.
• Luxury watch thefts have topped $1.3 billion over the past two years, and the Rolex brand is the favorite target of thieves.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 1.98% to $78.06 a barrel. Brent, the international benchmark, dropped 1.88% to $82.45 a barrel.
• Gold rose 0.56% to $1,936.80 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond declined eight basis points to 4.24%.
• Bitcoin fell 0.69% to $25,862.