By George Glover

Nvidia stock was edging higher ahead of Wednesday's opening bell, suggesting investors weren't too worried about U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff threat.

Shares rose 0.4% to $139.90, putting the chip maker on the brink of clawing back all its losses from last month's DeepSeek rout. They were trading at just under $143 before the rapid rise of the Chinese start-up's new artificial-intelligence model -- seemingly made on the cheap -- triggered a brutal selloff that wiped nearly $600 billion off the company's market value.

Trump said Tuesday that he was considering imposing levies "in the neighborhood of 25%" on semiconductors, cars, and pharmaceuticals. While that could make it more expensive for Nvidia to import chips from key overseas markets such as Taiwan, the stock's slight move higher on Wednesday suggests investors may see the White House tariff talk as an empty threat for now.

Nvidia's peers in the so-called Magnificent Seven group of stocks have helped it rebound since the DeepSeek upheaval. Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Google owner Alphabet all guided for a sharp rise in capital spending for the current year, suggesting they will continue dipping into their pockets to splash the cash on the chip maker's products. The success of Grok3, the latest chatbot from Elon Musk-owned xAI, has also eased worries about a slowdown in demand for chips.

The next big date for Nvidia is Wednesday, Feb. 26, when it's due to publish its earnings for the fourth quarter. Better-than-expected results then could make the DeepSeek dip seem like nothing more than a distant memory.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

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February 19, 2025 05:33 ET (10:33 GMT)

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