Dow Jones Industrial Average middles ahead of key inflation report

• The Dow Jones struggled to find momentum in either direction on Thursday.
• Nvidia posted strong revenue figures, but a lack of China chip sales stunted AI bidders.
• A fresh round of US PCE inflation, due on Friday, is keeping investors at bay.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ground to a halt on Thursday, stuck near the 45,500 region as investors await the latest batch of United States (US) Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) inflation data, due on Friday. The Dow is still holding close to record highs reached last week, but further topside momentum will require further evidence that markets are going to get their long-awaited interest rate cut in September.

Nvidia earns a beatdown after growing revenue by just 56%

AI tech rally monolith Nvidia (NVDA) posted strong quarterly revenue results after the closing bell on Wednesday, prompting a flurry of after-hours stock trading. However, despite posting revenue growth of 56% in the second quarter, Nvidia still saw overnight declines after investors noticed the chipmaker's forward guidance didn't include any additional chip sales to China. Nvidia is still actively negotiating with the Trump administration to gain more market access to China, specifically for bulk sales of its H20 chipsets tailored to service AI industry buildouts.

Other global chipmakers fell in tandem with Nvidia before tech bidders recovered their footing and pared away the brunt of the overnight session's damage. NVDA remains down around 2.3% from record highs, recovering back above $180.00 per share after tapping the $172.00 region post-revenue reporting.

Read more Nvidia stock news: After earnings sell-off, Nvidia stock regains $180

PCE inflation remains the key datapoint this week

US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth accelerated to 3.3% on an annualized basis through the second quarter, beating expectations and accelerating from the previous quarter's 3.0%. However, data impact on Thursday is limited as investors are pre-emptively bracing for Friday's PCE inflation print. Inflation remains a looming threat to the trajectory of Fed rate cuts and could undermine September rate cut hopes if it accelerates too quickly between now and September 17. July's core PCE inflation is expected to rise to 2.9% YoY.

Dow Jones daily chart