By Utkarsh Hathi and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi
Nov 11 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed more than 1% on Wednesday after neocloud firm CoreWeave's solid earnings eased investor concerns about bloated AI expenditure, while Nvidia recovered some ground following a rout in the last two sessions.
CoreWeave's shares jumped 25.3% to a near two-week high after the battered company said it would become profitable in the first half of 2028, on an adjusted basis, as it sought to reassure investors
that strong demand and customer commitments could support its debt-fueled expansion.
The results boosted sentiment across AI infrastructure stocks, with Nebius Group and Applied Digital rising 17.4% and 8.6%, respectively.
Nvidia rose 3.8% after shedding about $430 billion in the previous two sessions as questions about CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with a businesswoman alleged to be a Chinese spy roiled markets.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index jumped 7% to a one-week high, with Marvell Technology and Micron up 12.2% and 13.3%, respectively.
Equities have whipsawed this week, with concerns over slower data center deployment, higher interest rates and Nvidia's troubles pitted against the appetite to buy the dip.
Investors bought equities during last week's selloff, with all net inflows coming through ETFs and institutional clients leading the purchases, Bank of America Global Research analysts said in a note.
"We've seen some of the leverage getting washed out post the midterms, which could set us up for a constructive year-end rally," said Ron Albahary, chief investment officer, Laird Norton Wetherby.
At 11:44 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 51.98 points, or 0.10%, to 52,283.87, the S&P 500 gained 93.80 points, or 1.25%, to 7,614.73, and the Nasdaq Composite added 463.99 points, or 1.85%, to 25,529.87.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were in positive territory, with the technology index and energy index leading gains.
The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, fell for the fourth straight session and was at 17.7.
Investors also examined the terms set by Anthropic on Tuesday for its blockbuster initial public offering. The Claude chatbot creator is aiming for a valuation of up to $1.4 trillion in the share sale.
"There's a lot of optimistic expectations related to Anthropic's business... any disappointment related to earnings growth, which has been outsized, could cause a selloff within the AI trade itself," Albahary said.
RATE FEARS LINGER
Hotter-than-expected inflation data on Tuesday reinforced expectations the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates next month, with traders now fully pricing in a hike, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
The central bank should consider raising borrowing costs by 50 basis points if October inflation worsened, Fed Governor Christopher Waller had said before the CPI report, adding that a tamer approach risked hurting the Fed's credibility.
Meanwhile, oil prices climbed 2.8% after Iran's security chief said Tehran would not allow enriched nuclear material to leave the country. [O/R]
The US bond market is shut on Wednesday for Veterans Day.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.55-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 50 new highs and 108 new lows.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant, Utkarsh Hathi and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Pooja Desai)
