Markets Edge Higher as Investors Eye Nvidia Earnings, Musk Criticism Weighs on Sentiment

Indexes see cautious optimism at the open as tech leads gains; focus turns to Nvidia’s post-close report and fallout from Trump’s fiscal bill

WATCH: Nvidia and Salesforce report earnings after the opening bell on Wednesday

U.S. equity markets opened modestly higher Wednesday as investors positioned themselves ahead of Nvidia’s highly anticipated earnings report and digested comments from Elon Musk that rekindled concerns over fiscal policy under the Trump administration.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 35.68 points, or 0.08%, to 42,379.3. The Nasdaq Composite rose 39.40 points, or 0.21%, to 19,238.6, while the S&P 500 climbed 9.31 points, or 0.16%, to 5,930.85. The Russell 2000 Index, a proxy for small-cap equities, edged up 0.28 points, or 0.13%, to 207.98.

All eyes are on Nvidia, which is scheduled to report its April-quarter results after the market close. The chipmaker has become a bellwether for AI-related enthusiasm and broader tech sentiment. Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, highlighted three key investor concerns going into the report: “data center/Blackwell momentum, margin expansion trajectory, and policy/China commentary”.

Zino expects Nvidia to post April-quarter revenue of $43 billion, up 66% year-over-year, driven by surging demand for data center chips amid increased hyperscaler spending and interest in the new Blackwell platform. However, a $5.5 billion write-down tied to lost China revenue is projected to compress gross margins to 66%-67%. The impact is not short-lived: “We estimate [it will act] as a $4B-$5B per quarter revenue headwind,” he wrote.

Despite the drag, Zino sees a path to margin recovery in the second half of the year as Blackwell-related costs decline and demand accelerates, but he cautioned that policy uncertainty—particularly tariffs under ongoing Section 232 semiconductor investigations—could cloud the outlook.

Outside tech, investor sentiment was dampened by political headlines. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, publicly criticized the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a massive spending package recently passed by House Republicans and endorsed by President Trump. “I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful,” Musk told CBS. “But I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion”.

Musk, who formerly led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), warned that the bill undermines deficit reduction efforts and could expand the national debt by as much as $3.8 trillion by 2034, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office. His comments signal a break from his earlier political alignment with Trump and underscore broader market concerns about long-term fiscal sustainability.

Investors appear to be weighing these crosscurrents carefully as trading gets underway, with modest gains suggesting guarded optimism. Market direction through the rest of the session will likely hinge on Nvidia’s earnings and any further fallout from Washington’s evolving policy landscape.