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The Dow Jones started Thursday off on a high note. The major equity index soared 725 points in the early hours before promptly reversing course at 1545 GMT (1045 EST) and sinking over 1,100 points top-to-bottom, hitting a five-week low of 45,732 in the process. Markets are facing fresh headwinds on multiple fronts, and a poorly-timed announcement that the Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) employment “situation” data releases would be delayed until December 16th was the cherry on top.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 2.2% on the week, and on pace for its worst weekly performance since the beginning of October. Equities are facing fresh challenges across the board, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 down around 0.6% for the day after testing its lowest bids in nearly nine weeks. The Dow found an eventual foothold to reclaim the 46,000 handle in midday trading, before sinking back into the day's lows, down around 0.65% on Thursday.

AI under a microscope as high chip demand still doesn't mean high revenues

The AI trade remains under threat, with investor trepidation on the rise in the face of hard mathematics disagreeing with pie-eyed expectations of infinite earnings potential. Nvidia (NVDA) posted strong paper figures during its after-market earnings call after the closing bell on Wednesday, claiming another quarter of strong double-digit demand growth for its AI-focused chipsets. However, skeptical analysts noted that several key categories in Nvidia’s earnings should raise concern among tech wonks.

According to Nvidia’s earnings call, the chipmaker stockpiled nearly $20 billion in unsold product, a 32% increase in a single quarter. For a company claiming “strong demand growth”, it represents a worrying increase in stockpiles. Nvidia also posted $19.3 billion in quarterly revenue, but only $14.5 billion of that converted to cash, leaving an almost $5 billion shortfall between cash and earnings, a significantly slower pace of cash generation compared to Nvidia’s peers.

NFP data pipeline has resumed, but delays leave rate cut hopes on the floor

September’s backdated Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) was released on Thursday following the recent resumption of federal government operations, showing a surprising upswing of 119K in the number of net new jobs created during the month. The strong NFP showing has limited the chances of a Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate cut on December 10. October’s and November’s NFP releases have been delayed until December 16, pushing out market expectations for a third interest rate trim to the Fed’s January rate call.

Dow Jones daily chart

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