Nvidia Dips, Co Plans Downgraded China Chip

Investing.com -- CoreWeave shares fell 7.7% as the company, which recently scaled down its initial public offering, is reportedly in talks to raise approximately $1.5 billion in debt. The potential debt offering is expected to be in the form of high-yield bonds and may be led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), sources familiar with the matter disclosed to Bloomberg.

The cloud-computing provider, backed by Nvidia Corp . (NASDAQ:NVDA), had initially set its sights on a $4 billion IPO. However, market volatility ahead of President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements on April 2 led to a more conservative $1.5 billion raised in late March. The uncertainty surrounding the stock market and investors’ wariness of riskier assets contributed to the reduced IPO size.

CoreWeave’s decision to pursue significant debt financing so soon after its IPO has raised concerns among investors, prompting the drop in stock price. The move to raise debt could be interpreted as a need for additional capital, which might not have been fully met by the IPO proceeds.

The Livingston, New Jersey-based company’s pivot to debt financing also comes at a time when the market is experiencing heightened sensitivity to economic and political news. The timing of these discussions, in the wake of a scaled-down IPO and amidst market instability, appears to have affected investor confidence, resulting in the downward movement of CoreWeave’s stock.

As the company navigates its post-IPO phase, the market will closely watch how CoreWeave manages its capital raising strategies and how it might impact its financial stability and growth prospects in the competitive cloud-computing sector.

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Investing.com -- U.S. stocks edged higher Friday in choppy trade as investors digested more comments from U.S. President Donald Trump about U.S.-China tariffs ahead of the weekend’s meeting between trade officials of both countries.

At 09:32 ET (13:32 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80 points, or 0.2%, the S&P 500 index gained 22 points, or 0.4%, and the NASDAQ Composite rose 105 points, or 0.6%. 

Trump hints at 80% Chinese tariffs

The main Wall Street indexes closed higher on Thursday as investors cheered a trade deal struck between Britain and the U.S. - the first of its kind since Trump paused his initial tariffs last month.

Under the deal, the 10% tariff that was imposed on goods imported from the U.K, remains in place, while the U.K. agreed to lower its tariffs to 1.8% from 5.1% and provide further access to U.S. goods. Moreover, steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. would be exempt from Trump’s 25% levy.

“The deal enables the President to offer the sense of flexibility that financial markets are craving. The reaction – higher equity prices, a stronger dollar, higher Treasury yields – shows that it has had the desired effect,” ING analysts said in a note.

This deal has bred optimism that it could provide the template for other agreements to come, particularly with U.S. officials set to meet their Chinese counterparts over the weekend. 

Some of this optimism dissipated earlier Friday as futures briefly turned negative after President Trump hinted at a possible 80% tariff on China in a social media post. 

In his post, Trump stated, "Trump: 80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B," referring to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

It remains unclear whether Trump intends for the 80% tariff to be a long-term measure, a temporary reduction from the current 145% tariff, or if he is granting Bessent authority to negotiate lower tariffs with China.

An 80% tariff would be significantly lower than the current 145% tariff imposed on many Chinese goods. However, even this reduced rate could be seen as a barrier to trade.

“A de-escalation with China is realistically the only thing that can meaningfully move the dial on the tariff hit,” ING added.

Fed speakers in focus

There’s little on the economic data slate to focus on Friday, save the Federal budget balance for April, but there are a few Fed speakers to watch, including two dovish-leaning members, Michael Barr and Christopher Waller. 

"Lately, Waller has stressed that tariff-led inflation should be temporary, and it will be interesting to see whether more neutral members endorse this view. None of the hawks are speaking today, and the overall message may be slightly dovish-leaning," said ING.

Nvidia plans less powerful chips for China - report

A busy week of quarterly earnings is coming to an end, and the corporate focus may turn to Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) Friday.

The chip giant is planning to release a less-powerful version of its H20 artificial intelligence chip in China within the next two months, as it moves to meet stricter U.S. export restrictions, Reuters reported.

That said, there were still some results to digest.

Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM) stock fell after the buy-now-pay-later firm’s outlook for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2025 failed to impress, even as it reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) stock slumped after the online travel-booking platform missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue due to weaker than expected demand in the U.S..

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) stock soared after the image-sharing company provided a strong quarterly revenue forecast which allayed investor jitters about the uncertainty of advertising spending on its platform amid global economic volatility.

Crude edges higher

Oil prices edged higher Friday, adding to the previous session’s gains as trade tensions eased ahead of talks between top oil consumers U.S. and China and after the announcement of the trade deal with Britain.

At 09:32 ET, Brent futures climbed 0.8% to $63.33 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.9% to $60.47 a barrel.

Both contracts settled nearly 3% higher on Thursday. Despite these gains, oil prices still remained close to four-year lows, as worries heightened economic uncertainty and its impact on crude demand remained.

(Ayushman Ojha contributed to this article.)