Investors have spent this year debating how much longer the AI infrastructure buildout can keep expanding before spending on chips and data centers levels off. Nvidia just gave its clearest answer yet. The company's latest quarter topped Wall Street's expectations across every major line, led by another surge in data center demand from cloud providers and AI labs adding capacity, and its forecast for the current quarter came in even higher than analysts had modeled.

The bigger surprise came further out. Nvidia guided to revenue growth of at least 70% in fiscal 2028, far above the ~45% Wall Street had penciled in, a sign management sees this spending wave extending years beyond the current cycle. Jensen Huang described artificial intelligence as reaching an "inflection point," framing it as increasingly proven and profitable rather than experimental. Shares rallied on the results, and the move spread across semiconductor and technology stocks more broadly, a reminder that Nvidia is now treated as a barometer for the entire AI trade.

• Nvidia's revenue reached $96.2 billion for the quarter, comfortably ahead of Wall Street's expectations.

• Data center revenue climbed to $89 billion as Blackwell chips drove another wave of AI infrastructure orders.

• Nvidia guided to $108 billion in revenue for the current quarter, above the roughly $105 billion Wall Street had expected.

For a market still trying to gauge how long the AI buildout can last, Nvidia's own outlook may be the most useful data point yet. Just after their earnings release, Nvidia was reported to have agreed to buy Hugging Face, the open source AI platform, for $12.9 billion, a sign the company is still expanding its reach across the AI stack rather than pulling back.

CRM (+22.5%): Salesforce jumped after raising its revenue and profit outlook and new ‘Claudeforce’ product in collaboration with Anthropic.

GAP (+18.4%): Renewed hope around the fashion firm as the company named retail veteran Michael Francis as the new CEO of Old Navy, aiming to revive its largest brand.

ESTC (+16.5%): Elastic shares surged after its software and data platform beat earnings expectations due to strong demand for its data analytics, security, and observability tools.

DKS (-26.3%): Dick’s shares plunged despite revenue growth, as second-quarter earnings missed expectations as management pointed to a challenging consumer environment.

BBW (-23.1%): Build-a-Bear cut its full-year revenue outlook for the second time, citing weaker sales, disappointing summer products, and the loss of the Walmart partnership.

PYPL (-12.8%): PayPal shares fell after Advent International and Stripe withdrew interest in a potential $50 billion takeover, adding to concerns around the company's growth outlook.

Satellite imagery of Rasuwa district shows the scale of last week's flash flood, when a glacial collapse sent a wall of water and debris down the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers. The surge swept away bridges, submerged buildings, and knocked out several of the hydropower stations Nepal depends on for electricity. Nepal Police have confirmed hundreds of deaths, with hundreds more still missing across Nepal and neighboring Tibet.

The damage lands on an economy already slowing, and officials are now weighing the cost of rebuilding. Nepal's finance minister, Swarnim Wagle, said the country will need several billion dollars in international funding, and businessman Binod Chaudhary put a preliminary rebuilding estimate near $5 billion. With hydropower plants offline, Nepal may need to import electricity from India in the near term. President Trump told reporters the United States would send aid and give Nepal "anything they want."