Ross Stores Climbs on Strong Earnings; Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom Fall as AI Slump Persists

Shares of an off-price apparel retailer climbed after the company touted its success in the back-to-school season and issued a rosy outlook for the critical holiday quarter. Meanwhile, a database software firm remained under pressure as questions linger about its valuation and capacity to meet lofty targets.

Major U.S. equities indexes bounced back Friday, clawing back losses posted in the prior session. The S&P 500 ended the final trading session of the week 0.9% higher. The Dow added 1.1%, while the Nasdaq rose 0.8%. See here for Investopedia’s full wrap-up of Friday’s major market moves. 

Shares of Ross Stores (ROST) surged 8.4% after the off-price apparel, footwear, and accessories retailer surpassed third-quarter sales and profit estimates. The company is the latest discount retailer to demonstrate it’s benefiting from consumers’ bargain-seeking. Ross highlighted strength in the back-to-school shopping season and raised its outlook, pointing to optimism about the crucial holiday period.

Comments from John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, helped boost expectations that policymakers might cut interest rates in December. Rate-cut optimism boosted the stocks of companies exposed to the housing market, which stand to benefit from lower mortgage rates. Shares of residential construction materials supplier Builders FirstSource (BLDR) jumped 7.1%, while homebuilders D.R. Horton (DHI) and Lennar (LEN) also notched solid gains.

Insulet (PODD) shares climbed 5.8% a day after the medical device maker held an investor day event. The manufacturer of continuous glucose monitoring devices provided a three-year sales and profit forecast that exceeded consensus expectations. Several research firms raised their price targets on Insulet stock following the event.

Oracle (ORCL) shares tumbled 5.7%, extending their recent downtrend and suffering the heaviest decline of any S&P 500 stock Friday. The database software and cloud computing giant has been rattled recently by concerns about its elevated valuation and heavy borrowing tied to its data center investments. Following Friday’s drop, the stock is down around 28% over the past month.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares slid 1% as concerns about an AI bubble continued to weigh on high-flying tech stocks. Friday’s decline extended the stock’s 3% loss yesterday despite the AI chip giant blowing past estimates with its third-quarter earnings report. Nvidia’s largest rivals, Broadcom (AVGO) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), shed 1.9% and 1.1%, respectively, on Friday. Nuclear power providers Vistra (VST) and Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG), whose stocks soared over the past year as they struck multi-billion dollar deals to power AI data centers, were also dogged by bubble fears. Their stocks fell a respective 3% and 2.2%.