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NVIDIA, OTHER TECH SHARES GIVE WALL STREET AN EARLY BOOST

The three major U.S. stock indexes are higher in early trading on Thursday, with technology leading gains among S&P 500 .SPX sectors and Nvidia NVDA.O giving the market a boost.

The tech sector .SPLRCT is up about 1%, while Nvidia shares are more than 2% higher and hit a record high following a Reuters report, citing sources, that the U.S. has cleared about 10 Chinese firms to buy its second-most-powerful AI chip, the H200.

At the start of a two-day summit on Thursday, China's Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump that trade talks were making progress, but cautioned that disagreement over Taiwan could send relations down a dangerous path and even lead to conflict.

Also rising are shares of Cisco Systems CSCO.O, last up about 14%. The company said late Wednesday that it would cut nearly 4,000 jobs, as part of a restructuring aimed at shifting investment toward artificial intelligence and related growth areas. It also raised its annual revenue forecast after a surge in hyperscaler orders.

Investors also are digesting the latest economic data, including a report showing U.S. retail sales increased further in April. Some of the rise in receipts was likely due to higher inflation as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran boosted prices of energy products and other commodities.

Here is the early market snapshot:

(Caroline Valetkevitch)

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