What a rollercoaster of a day on Wall Street! We're seeing some absolutely massive moves, with stories of incredible growth running right alongside tales of sharp declines. The big headliner, without a doubt, is the chipmaker NVIDIA, which just dropped a financial report that can only be described as monumental. But they're not the only ones making waves—from retail giants to biotech, there's a lot to unpack.
Key Highlights
- ✓ NVIDIA reported a stunning record revenue of $57.0 billion for its third quarter, a 62% jump from the previous year.
- ✓ Bath & Body Works shares plummeted by more than 25% after the company posted disappointing Q3 results.
- ✓ Retail giant Walmart saw its stock climb nearly 6% thanks to better-than-expected earnings and an improved full-year outlook.
- ✓ Exact Sciences, maker of the Cologuard test, soared an incredible 17% after Abbott Laboratories announced a major buyout deal.
- ✓ Crypto-related stocks like Coinbase and Robinhood took a serious hit as Bitcoin's value continued to fall.
The NVIDIA Juggernaut Continues to Roll
Let's just get right to it. NVIDIA announced its fiscal third-quarter results, and the numbers are staggering. The company pulled in a record revenue of $57.0 billion. To put that in perspective, that's up 22% from the previous quarter and a jaw-dropping 62% from this time last year. It’s the kind of growth that makes everyone sit up and pay attention.
The real engine behind this explosion is their Data Center division, which posted its own record revenue of $51.2 billion. That's a 66% increase year-over-year. It seems like the entire world is racing to build out AI infrastructure, and NVIDIA is right there supplying the hardware. Funnily enough, despite these incredible numbers, the stock actually slipped nearly 2% in midday trading, reversing some earlier gains. It's a classic case of "buy the rumor, sell the news," perhaps, as other AI-related stocks like Palantir and AMD also slipped.
The "Virtuous Cycle of AI"
NVIDIA's founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, summed up the situation perfectly. He said, "Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out." He went on to describe what he calls the "virtuous cycle of AI," where compute demand just keeps accelerating and compounding. It's a fascinating insight into the exponential growth happening in the AI ecosystem.
And they're not slowing down. Their outlook for the fourth quarter is just as strong, with revenue expected to hit around $65.0 billion. They're also returning a massive amount of cash to shareholders—$37.0 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2026 alone through share repurchases and dividends. It's clear that NVIDIA is firing on all cylinders.
Powering the AI Revolution with Key Partnerships
So, how are they achieving these astronomical numbers? It's all about partnerships and innovation. The company has been busy teaming up with basically every major player in the tech world. They announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for their next-gen AI infrastructure. That is a truly massive amount of computing power.
The list of collaborators reads like a who's who of tech: Google Cloud, Microsoft, Oracle, and xAI are all working with NVIDIA to build America's AI infrastructure with hundreds of thousands of their GPUs. They're also working with Anthropic, Intel, and Palantir Technologies. It seems if you're a serious player in AI, you're working with NVIDIA. They even celebrated the first Blackwell wafer being produced on U.S. soil at TSMC's Arizona facility, a big moment for American manufacturing.
Beyond the Data Center
While the Data Center is the main story, NVIDIA is also making moves elsewhere. Their Gaming division brought in $4.3 billion, up 30% from a year ago. And their Automotive and Robotics segment is also growing, with revenue up 32% year-over-year. They've partnered with Uber to scale a level 4-ready mobility network and are working with leaders like Toyota, Foxconn, and Amazon Robotics to drive "physical AI" in manufacturing.
The Broader Market: Big Wins and Painful Losses
Of course, NVIDIA wasn't the only company making headlines. It was a day of stark contrasts out there. On the winning side, retail titan Walmart had a fantastic quarter, rising almost 6%. They beat analyst expectations by earning an adjusted 62 cents per share on a massive $179.5 billion in revenue. They even hiked their full-year sales outlook, signaling confidence heading into the holiday season.
Another huge winner was Exact Sciences, which skyrocketed 17%. The jump came after Abbott Laboratories agreed to buy them in a cash deal valued at around $21 billion, or $105 per share. That's a serious premium and great news for their shareholders. We also saw beauty company Oddity rally 11% on strong earnings, and Regeneron popped 4% after getting FDA approval for a new treatment.
When Good News Isn't Good Enough
But it wasn't all good news. The most dramatic drop of the day belongs to Bath & Body Works. The soap and lotion retailer tumbled more than 25% after posting really disappointing third-quarter results. Both their earnings and revenue fell short of what analysts were expecting, and investors reacted swiftly and harshly.
Meanwhile, the crypto world felt some pain as Bitcoin's value continued to slide. Stocks tied to the crypto market, like trading platform Robinhood and exchange giant Coinbase, fell about 9% and 7%, respectively. We also saw some curious moves where companies reported good news but still saw their stock fall. Palo Alto Networks fell over 6% after announcing a massive $3.35 billion acquisition, which seemed to overshadow their better-than-expected earnings.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that today's market is a perfect snapshot of our current economic landscape. The AI boom, led by giants like NVIDIA, is a force of nature, reshaping industries and generating unbelievable wealth. At the same time, consumer-facing companies are living on a knife's edge, where a slight miss on earnings can lead to a massive sell-off, as we saw with Bath & Body Works. It just goes to show how dynamic and unpredictable things are, with tech innovation on one side and consumer sentiment on the other, both pulling the market in different directions.
