Retail sales for October came in at a gain of 0.3% over the prior month. The street was expecting a gain of 0.5%.

Still, a solid report on the consumer. This represents a gain of +5.7% over October 2019’s results (year over year).

Total retail sales is clearly in a V-shaped recovery. With this month's numbers, total retail sales is now +4.9% above the pre-COVID highs. The gains were not as broad-based, as only 5 of the 13 major categories showed increases. Non-store retail continues to lead the way, as the rapid shift to e-commerce continues.

Nvidia reported its quarterly earnings Wednesday night. The company crushed earnings expectations (+46% growth year over year) and beat on revenues (+57% growth year over year). They also raised forward guidance for Q4 to +55% year over year growth in sales. Although their guidance on data center revenue came in below street expectations.

Gross margins ticked down from 63.6% to 62.6% and Operating margins also ticked down from 30.7% to 29.6%.

On a trailing 12 month basis, Nvidia revenues now come in just shy of $18 billion, another record.

While operating income made a new all-time high at $4.9 billion.

Gross margins were unchanged at 62.8%.

Another impressive quarter for Nvidia overall but the share price trades down about 2% today. The stock is up +128% year to date and trades about 50x forward earnings (more than double the 22x for the S&P 500 index), and about 19x TTM sales.

The stock has been stuck inside a trading range for months, with the 9/2 closing high and 9/2 open price capping the upside, while the 9/8 open price gap and breakout point at ($493.92) supporting on the downside.

Which way the stock will break is anyone’s guess. There is a measured move target around the $462.56 open price gap from 8/14 that could come into play (green dashed line). I’ve owned the stock for years with no plans to sell. I would only start getting interested in adding to the position unless it trades down to the $430 range. Otherwise it’s a hold for me.

If the company can complete its acquisition of ARM holdings, that would certainty cement its position as being an industry leader for many years to come.