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Nvidia rally lifts markets – and struggling political leaders

People visit the stand of NVIDIA during the 11th China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, known as ChinaJoy 2013, in Shanghai, China, 25 July 2013.

People visit the stand of NVIDIA during the 11th China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, known as ChinaJoy 2013, in Shanghai, China, 25 July 2013.

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Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksFebruary 22, 2024
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
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AI chipmaker Nvidia dropped jaws on Wednesday with earnings estimates that surged past even the most optimist expectations, sending a charge through global markets on Thursday. The firm’s stock price has surged almost 700% in the past 18 months to pass Amazon as the third-largest stock listed on the NASDAQ after Microsoft and Apple.

Where is GZERO’s signature political angle on this story? The first stock market to surge on this news was the Japanese Nikkei index, which climbed 2.2% higher to break its all-time highs set in late 1989 (!).

OK, “Japan is back” enthusiasm is limited by news this week that its economy fell into fourth place behind Germany with a disappointing Q4 from last year. There’s also the reality that topping this previous high reminds Japan and the world just how tough the past third of a century has been for its economy.

Still, good news is good news, and Fumio Kishida’s deeply unpopular government can use all the good news it can get.

This is also a welcome development for the US economy at a time when President Joe Biden badly needs it. On Thursday, US stocks posted their best day of the year so far, with the NASDAQ closing up nearly 3%.

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