Nvidia and tech stocks lead Wall Street higher

NEW YORK (AP) — Nvidia is helping to lead the U.S. stock market higher on Wednesday, ahead of the chip company's highly anticipated profit report coming after trading ends for the day.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and recovered its losses from earlier in the week, when stocks swung sharply as investors tried to separate potential losers from winners in the artificial-intelligence boom.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 259 points, or 0.5%, as of 2:27 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher.

Nvidia was the strongest single force lifting the market, and it climbed 2.3%. Analysts are expecting it to deliver another blowout earnings report, and they're forecasting Nvidia will say its profit surged nearly 70% from a year earlier to $37.52 billion. That’s would mean it made more than $400 million per day during the three months through Jan. 25.

Nvidia’s profit reports have become a bellwether for the market, not only because it's become Wall Street's biggest stock but also because of how influential AI has become over the market’s moves. In past years, the AI frenzy helped stocks run to record after record amid hopes that it would revolutionize the economy and make it more productive.

More recently, though, concerns have climbed about whether companies like Alphabet and Amazon are spending so much on chips from Nvidia and other equipment that they’ll never be able to make back the investments through future gains in productivity. If that leads to a pullback in spending, it would hit Nvidia directly.

Investors have also begun focusing on companies and industries that could get undercut by AI-powered competitors. That has led to sudden and swift sell-offs for stocks seen as potentially under threat, and the worries have rolled through industries as seemingly disparate as software, trucking logistics and legal services.

That's on top of other worries already weighing on the market, including new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump to replace ones struck down by the Supreme Court.

“While those concerns are real, we believe investors would be wise to balance them out with offsetting trends that may be underappreciated in the current wall of worry headline cycle,” according to Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer for Wealth & Investment Management at Wells Fargo.

Among them is the strong growth in profit that U.S. companies have been reporting so far for the end of 2025. That has helped strengthen some corners of the U.S. stock market that had been overshadowed by AI mania and Big Tech, including stocks of smaller companies.

Cava Group, the fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain, jumped 24.3% after delivering better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue for a fiscal year also topped $1 billion for the first time, up 22.5% from the year earlier.

Axon Enterprise leaped 18.2% after the seller of Tasers and body cameras with AI voice-activated assistants likewise reported bigger profit and revenue than analysts expected.

They helped offset a 15% drop for First Solar, which reported a weaker profit than analysts expected.

Lowe's fell 4.7% and was one of the heaviest weights on the market even though the home-improvement retailer reported a higher profit than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on its forecast for profit over the course of 2026, which fell short of analysts' estimates.

CEO Marvin Ellison said the broad housing market remains pressured, and stocks for rival Home Depot and homebuilders also fell.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 2.2%, and South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.9% for two of the bigger moves.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.03% from 4.04% late Tuesday.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

A pedestrian walks outside the New York Stock Exchange during a snow storm, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Dealers watch computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Snow falls outside the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

People sit on the chairs near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), center, the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, left, and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Currency traders celebrate as they work in the office with a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) of over 6,000 points at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Kim Sung-min/Yonhap via AP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphones, which boast an even bigger toolbox of artificial intelligence technology than the previous two generations and introduce a new privacy shield mode that blocks snoopy bystanders from sneaking a peek at the display screen.

The upgrades on the Galaxy S26 lineup — arriving in stores March 11 — will also include price increases of 10% to 13% on the basic and mid-tier models while the Ultra device will cost the same as last year's version. The standard Galaxy S26 will sell for $899, while the Plus model will cost $1,099. That's $100 more than what Samsung charged for the comparable devices released in each of the past two years. The Galaxy S26 Ultra remains at $1,299.

As has become commonplace for all new smartphones, Samsung has improved the camera and battery for the Galaxy S26 because those features weigh so heavily on consumers' decisions on whether it's worth upgrading from the devices they already have.

Samsung is also dangling a new reason to pony up for its most expensive Galaxy S26 with a built-in feature called “Privacy Display” that will only be available on the Ultra.

When the privacy protection option is turned on, the pixels on the Ultra change in a way that enables the display screen to only be seen when looking directly down at it. The screen appears off when viewed from the side, preventing “shoulder surfing” from people standing or sitting nearby. The controls can be set up so specific apps, such as those dealing with financial information or other sensitive information, will always open in the Privacy Display mode.

PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore predicts Privacy Display could turn out to be “the sleeper hit, a standout feature in a sea of AI noise.”

But Samsung continues to highlight AI as a marquee attraction on its Galaxy phones, amplifying on a theme that it began harping on two years ago when the company began to embrace the technology as a way to make its devices even more versatile and compelling.

“AI must become part of our infrastructure,” said TM Roh, Samsung's CEO of device experience, during a showcase held in San Francisco. “You should be able to enjoy its benefits through the devices you use every day.”

Samsung is promising this year's Galaxy lineup is loaded with AI that will act as multipurpose agents that fetches information and content so users won't have to spend time doing it on their own.

“This is the agentic AI phone,” Roh said of the Galaxy S26.

As it has in the previous years, Samsung is leaning heavily on Google's Gemini technology for its AI, but also is adding another assistant option from Perplexity, a rising star that is best known for running its own “answer engine” for finding online information.

The Galaxy S26 phones will also include more tools that can doctor photos taken on the devices, including one that automatically softens a subject's skin tone if the selfie is taken with the phone's front camera.

AI technology is being deployed on many other smart devices, including those made by Apple and Google, but it's unclear if the strategy is resonating with consumers.

Although Apple has been promoting its own AI suite for nearly two years, the trendsetting company still hasn't been able to deliver on all the features it has been promising. Apple's AI shortcomings have become so glaring that it's depending on Google to help smarten up i ts often bumbling virtual assistant Siri.

Despite all that, Apple's iPhone has remained the world's top-selling smartphone for the past three years — a mantle that Samsung last held in 2022, according to the research firm International Data Corp.

“AI is still not a sought-after feature among users,” Pescatore said. "The big opportunity is making AI feel like a daily habit rather than a party trick, with tighter integration across core apps. AI must be boringly useful. Less ‘look what it can do,’ more ‘this saves me time every day.’ ”

FILE - The logo of the Samsung is seen at the Samsung Electronics' Seocho building in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

Samsung unveils its latest Galaxy smartphones during a showcase in San Francisco on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Samsung unveils its latest Galaxy smartphones during a showcase in San Francisco on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Samsung unveils its latest Galaxy smartphones during a showcase in San Francisco on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)