NEW YORK, Jan 4, 2026, 12:49 ET — Market closed
- Nvidia closed up 1.2% on Friday as chip stocks outperformed to open 2026
- CEO Jensen Huang is due at CES on Jan. 5; U.S. payrolls follow on Jan. 9
- Traders are watching whether the early AI-chip bounce holds into a data-heavy week
Nvidia shares closed up 1.2% on Friday at $188.85, helping chipmakers lead Wall Street’s first trading day of 2026. The next read on the AI trade comes when U.S. markets reopen on Monday.
The move matters because chip stocks have become a fast way for investors to express a view on AI infrastructure spending — the servers, chips and networking that power AI systems. Friday’s rebound followed a late-December stumble that left markets without the typical “Santa Claus rally” into year-end. Reuters
The calendar is packed early. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to headline a CES press conference in Las Vegas on Monday, and investors are also bracing for a U.S. jobs report on Friday that can reset interest-rate expectations in one print.
On Friday, the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index — a benchmark for major U.S. chip stocks — rose about 4%. Intel climbed 6.7% and AMD gained 4.3%, while Microsoft fell 2.2%; the Dow rose 0.66% and the S&P 500 added 0.19% as the Nasdaq slipped 0.03%, Reuters reported.
Joe Mazzola, head of trading and derivatives strategy at Charles Schwab, said investors were “a little bit more conscious” about the valuations they are paying for AI plays. He described a “buy the dip, sell the rip” mindset — traders buying pullbacks and taking profits on sharp rebounds. Reuters
CES has become an early-year checkpoint for the AI hardware supply chain because it often brings product updates tied to chips and the AI-ready PCs that use them. Huang’s session is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET) on Monday, the conference schedule shows.
Macro data may matter just as much as the headlines out of Las Vegas. A Reuters poll expects U.S. employment to rise by 55,000 jobs in December after a 64,000 increase in November, with unemployment at 4.6%; the report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Jan. 9. Reuters also said Fed funds futures were pricing little chance of a cut at the late-January meeting and close to a 50% chance of a quarter-point cut in March.
But the trade has little margin for error after a year when valuations stayed elevated even as rates remained restrictive. A softer-than-expected jobs number, a jump in yields, or any sign that demand for AI infrastructure is cooling could push investors back to the exits, especially with policy and trade uncertainty still in the background.
Nvidia’s next major company catalyst is its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Feb. 25, according to its investor calendar. Before that, traders are likely to take their cue from Huang at CES on Jan. 5 and the payrolls report on Jan. 9 — two scheduled events that can move AI stocks quickly when markets reopen.
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