Nvidia’s latest record-breaking earnings have injected a fresh wave of artificial intelligence optimism into global markets, with Asian stock exchanges leading the charge. The chipmaker, whose designs power the most advanced AI systems, reported an 85% year-on-year surge in revenue to $81.6bn for the three months ended in April, its 15th consecutive quarter of beating Wall Street estimates. The news sent South Korea’s Kospi index soaring 9% and lifted Taiwanese shares by 3.3%, snapping a four-day losing streak, as investors bet on continued growth in AI spending.
Nvidia’s earnings and the AI boom
Nvidia’s performance underscores the scale of the AI-driven demand for its chips. The company forecast $91bn in sales for its current quarter, comfortably above the average investor expectation of $86bn, though short of the most bullish predictions. Its shares slipped 1% in after-hours trading, reflecting some concern about whether the company can sustain its blistering growth trajectory. The revenue beat was underpinned by record Data Center revenue, which reached $22.6bn in the quarter, a 427% jump from a year earlier, driven by demand for the Nvidia Hopper GPU computing platform used in training and running large language models and generative AI applications.
Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, highlighted the accelerating buildout of “AI factories” and the arrival of “agentic AI” that is now performing productive work and scaling rapidly across industries. He also identified physical AI and robotics as the “second category” for major growth, predicting that “everything that moves will be autonomous someday”. That vision was reflected in the market: LG Electronics and Hyundai Mobis both rose by more than 20% after Huang’s comments. Nvidia has also announced a ten-for-one forward stock split, effective 7 June, and raised its quarterly cash dividend by 150% to $0.01 per share on a post-split basis. However, the company’s gross margins declined to 60.5% in its previous quarter, reflecting one-time impairment losses related to H20 products and new export controls that prevented it from shipping $2.5bn in revenue to China.
Streeting calls for radical wealth tax overhaul
In a separate political development, Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, has proposed a sweeping overhaul of capital gains tax (CGT), arguing for a “wealth tax that works”. Speaking to the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast, Streeting called for equalising CGT rates with the three bands of income tax: 20%, 40% and 45%. He estimated the change could raise £12bn a year, a figure that would represent a substantial new source of government revenue. Streeting also said loopholes should be closed that allow individuals to disguise income from work as capital gains, and suggested that lower CGT rates could be offered to entrepreneurs who are actively building companies. His intervention comes after he resigned as health secretary last week, following calls from several Labour MPs for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step down. The proposal, if adopted, would mark a significant shift in UK tax policy, directly targeting investment profits that currently attract lower rates than earnings from employment.
Nationwide’s cash bonus for members
On the high street, Nationwide Building Society has set aside a £440m pot to pay £100 cash bonuses to 4.4 million members in its fourth “Fairer Share” payment since the profit-sharing scheme began in 2023. Eligible customers who hold a qualifying current account and a savings account or mortgage with the building society as of 31 March of the previous year will receive the payment between 10 June and 4 July. The announcement came as Nationwide reported an annual pre-tax profit of £1.49bn, down from £2.3bn the previous year when it booked a one-off gain from its £2.9bn acquisition of Virgin Money. Debbie Crosbie, Nationwide’s chief executive, said the bank’s growth in mortgages, retail deposits and current accounts was leading the market, enabling the payment to go ahead.
EasyJet warns of fuel cost hit from Middle East conflict
Budget airline easyJet said it had to spend an unexpected extra £25m on jet fuel in March, after the start of the US and Israel’s war on Iran. Chief executive Kenton Jarvis told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there had been “no issues” with fuel supply at any airports and urged passengers not to panic about summer holidays. “We stay in very close contact with our fuel suppliers, airports, governments, and they are equally raising no issues looking forward,” he said. Jarvis added that while less oil was coming from the Gulf region, suppliers had diversified successfully, with increased production in Norway, West Africa and the Americas, and higher refining capacity for jet fuel outside the Gulf. easyJet has hedged 72% of its fuel needs for the six months to the end of September, covering the peak summer season, but has temporarily suspended short-term hedging because of “elevated near-term fuel prices”. The airline reported a pre-tax loss of £552m for the six months to 31 March, compared with a loss of £394m in the same period last year, though it typically makes its profit in the second half of the year.
SpaceX files for $1.75tn stock market listing
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has unveiled plans to list publicly on the Nasdaq exchange at a valuation of about $1.75tn, under the ticker SPCX, with a target date of 12 June. The company is seeking up to $80bn in investment in what would be the largest initial public offering in history. Its filing revealed a net loss of $4.9bn on $18.7bn in revenue for the previous year, and a net loss of $4.3bn on $4.7bn in revenue in the first quarter of 2026. Capital expenditure has surged to $10.1bn in the first quarter, of which $7.72bn was attributed to artificial intelligence. The AI segment alone lost $2.5bn in the quarter. SpaceX’s cash on hand fell from $24.75bn at the end of 2025 to $15.85bn, while its debt load stood at $29.1bn. Musk controls 85.1% of the voting power and the company intends to claim “controlled company” status under Nasdaq governance rules, exempting it from certain board independence requirements. Notably, Anthropic is paying SpaceX $1.25bn a month through May 2029 for access to its compute capacity, a deal worth approximately $15bn.
UK chancellor’s cost of living measures
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to outline new cost of living support in a speech to parliament later today. The measures are expected to include free bus travel for children in England during August, cuts to import tariffs on more than 100 products – saving consumers an estimated £150m a year on items such as biscuits, chocolate, dried fruit and nuts – and a 12-month vehicle tax holiday for lorry drivers. A planned increase in fuel duty has been scrapped, though immediate help with rising energy bills is not anticipated, with further household support for the winter months to be finalised later. The government’s moves come as Brent crude oil prices rose 1.5% to $106.61 a barrel, driven by the ongoing Middle East conflict that has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for about 20% of the world’s oil supply. Jet fuel prices have spiked by as much as 95% in North America, and airlines across the globe have been forced to reroute flights and raise fares.
European markets opened lower on the day, with the FTSE 100 slipping 0.4%, the German Dax down 0.3%, and the French Cac 40 down 0.2%. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.2%. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey is scheduled to speak later at Cutler’s Feast in Sheffield.
