Nvidia ‘s rally to a record intraday high on Thursday briefly helped lift the S & P 500 into uncharted waters, leaving investors to wonder what’s next for the artificial intelligence trade. At one point, shares of the chipmaker climbed as much as 3.8% in Thursday’s session and at times traded above $140. That marked the first new intraday high for the megacap technology giant since June. Nvidia appeared to benefit from enthusiasm surrounding Taiwan Semiconductor , which jumped almost 10% after topping Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings estimates. The S & P 500 broad market index also touched a record high during the day, mostly driven by strong semiconductor and financial stocks. Nvidia’s stock, which scored an all-time closing high on Monday, has added 1.6% so far this week. The latest run in Jensen Huang’s company highlighted a return to bullish sentiment after concerns that the AI stocks had run up too far, too fast earlier this year. Notably, Nvidia shares slid in April and July as investors questioned, in the words of Globalt Investments’ Tom Martin, if AI had too much “hype” around it. “People were like, ‘Well, you can’t grow to the sky, so let’s be a little bit more cautious in our positioning,'” said Martin, a senior portfolio manager at the firm. Now, AI-focused companies are saying “the demand is out there — and it’s going to last for a while.” NVDA 1D mountain Nvidia, 1-day chart Martin likes the AI trade looking ahead, especially as year-end — typically a strong time for the market — nears. He said Nvidia specifically has fundamental catalysts for the share price to keep advancing given the demand for its products, but investors should not expect a seamless move. More broadly, he said AI spending can keep the global economy chugging along as other areas, from China to automobile sales, show signs of slackening. “We want to be in the stock. We want to be, for the most part, overweight in it,” Martin said of Nvidia. But, “it’s going to be a bumpy ride, because investors will say, ‘Oh, it’s too expensive.’ And then they’ll try and take some profits, and then they’ll try and buy it back a little cheaper, and then it’ll go back up again.”
