Nvidia hits its first record since May at $237 as the Nasdaq sets a high; $6 trillion needs about $249

Nvidia traded at $236.98, up 2.65%, at 10:57 a.m. Eastern on Friday, according to Nasdaq, above its previous intraday high of $236.54 set on May 14. Bloomberg reported it as the stock's first record since May. The Nasdaq Composite was up 1.53% at 27,283.92, and Investing.com reported that the index hit a record high, with the Philadelphia semiconductor index up 3.1%.

Why it moved

The trigger was the September jobs report. Employers added just 29,000 jobs against a 90,000 forecast and unemployment rose to 4.2%, as we reported this morning. Investing.com said traders cut the odds of a quarter-point Fed hike in October to 20% from 26% before the report, and the 10-year Treasury yield eased to about 5.23%. Lower yields lift the value investors put on future profits, and that helps fast-growing tech companies most. Our rate-odds story covers the Fed side in detail.

The number behind the number: what $6 trillion takes

Nasdaq lists Nvidia's market value at about $5.71 trillion. That works out to roughly 24.1 billion shares, so a $6 trillion valuation needs a share price of about $249, around 5% above Friday morning's level. The stock is up about 44% from its 52-week low of $164.27.

The record also took four and a half months to come. Nvidia's highest close before Friday was $235.74 on May 14, and it had not closed above that level since.

The thing the headline misses: the AI trade split in two

"Tech at a record" is not the full picture on Friday. The companies that design AI chips rallied, while the companies that sell memory and storage into the same data centers fell, after reports that Toshiba plans to double its hard-drive capacity.

The split says traders are separating AI spending into parts. Chip demand is seen as secure. Storage, where a third supplier is promising more capacity, is now being priced for tighter margins. Our Seagate and Western Digital story works through the numbers.

What traders are watching

• Yields: the rally rests on the bond market. Treasury's 10-year yield was 5.24% on Oct. 1, close to the 5.29% of Sept. 30 that our bond story flagged as the highest since 2002, and the Fed's next decision is Oct. 28.
• Inflation: September CPI is due Oct. 14 on our calendar. A hot number would put a hike back on the table.
• Volatility: Investing.com reported the VIX at a one-week low of 15.67.

For the full company picture, see Nvidia stock: what is actually going on and the markets board.

Sources: Nasdaq quotes, market values and NVDA price history; Investing.com; Bloomberg. Share-count and $6 trillion calculations are ours. Prices are intraday and will change. This is market information, not investment advice.