5 things to know before the stock market opens on Thursday May 23

Here are the most important news investors need to start their trading day:

Stocks fell Wednesday as investors worried about lingering inflation following the latest release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting (more details below). The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 201.95 points, or 0.51%, and had its worst session of the month. The S&P 500, meanwhile, fell 0.27% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.18%. But things were looking up Thursday morning as futures linked to all three indexes were higher, with Nasdaq-100 futures climbing 0.8% as Wall Street rode the market leader’s momentum Nvidia. Follow live market updates.

The wins keep coming for Nvidia. Shares of the chipmaker rebounded and topped $1,000 for the first time in extended trading after the company reported first-quarter financial results that beat analysts’ estimates. The chipmaker reported a whopping 262% increase in sales and announced a 10-for-1 stock split. And it shows no signs of slowing down, as its revenue has more than tripled over the past year. quarter and its data center business grew more than 400% year-over-year. Nvidia’s strong results suggest demand remains strong for its artificial intelligence chips – and for the AI ​​rally in general.

Federal Reserve officials are increasingly concerned about their progress – or lack thereof – on inflation. In the Fed’s April 30-May 1 minutes, released Wednesday, members indicated they lacked confidence in cutting interest rates. They voted unanimously to keep the benchmark short-term borrowing rate in the range of 5.25% to 5.5%, where it has been since July 2023. Although participants observed a slowdown inflation over the past year, there was ultimately “a lack of additional measures”. “progress” in recent months toward the 2% inflation target set by the committee, the minutes summary said. The minutes come after Fed Governor Christopher Waller said Tuesday he needed to see “several months” of progress before voting to cut rates.

Amazon is offering an upgrade to Alexa. The decade-old voice assistant will now be enhanced by generative artificial intelligence in the company’s aim to make it more conversational, two sources familiar with the matter told CNBC. Amazon also plans to charge users a monthly subscription fee with the offer, and these will not be included in Amazon Prime subscriptions. Such an upgrade – expected to take place this year – could allow the tech and retail giant to better compete with companies like Google and OpenAI, which launched AI-based chatbots and have since announced similar AI-powered voice features.

General Motors has officially launched an all-electric version of its iconic Chevrolet Equinox, which has been in the company’s lineup for two decades. The EV crossover went on sale with more expensive models ranging from around $43,000 to $51,100. The entry-level Equinox LT model is expected to launch later this year and will cost around $35,000. GM’s move comes as demand for electric vehicles has been slower than expected, making this latest rollout a test to see if the company’s new “Ultium” EV technologies, and overall adoption of electric vehicles by the mass market, will actually stick the landing.

— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Samantha Subin, Kif Leswing, Jeff Cox, Kate Rooney and Michael Wayland contributed to this report.

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