Updates with volume, Nvidia shares up 2% after the bell

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended little changed on Wednesday ahead of quarterly results from Nvidia, whose positive outlook could set the tone for the artificial intelligence sector.

Stocks lost ground in afternoon trading, with investors digesting the latest comments from U.S. President Donald Trump on tariffs.

Trump said on Wednesday his administration will soon announce a 25% tariff on imports from the European Union. He also raised hopes for another pause on steep new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada by saying they would take effect on April 2, about a month later than a deadline next week.

After the closing bell, Nvidia's shares NVDA.O were up about 2% in choppy trading. The AI tech leader forecast first-quarter revenue above market estimates.

Nvidia's stock ended the regular session up 3.7%, while an index of semiconductors .SOX was up 2.1% on the day.

The launch and popularity of low-cost AI models from China's DeepSeek had rattled the industry in January and raised questions around U.S. companies' heavy investments in the technology.

Any upbeat comments by Nvidia on demand will elevate stocks of companies investing heavily in AI, said Daniel Morgan, portfolio manager at Synovus Trust in Atlanta. "It's become the biggest tech report."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 188.04 points, or 0.43%, to 43,433.12, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.81 points, or 0.01%, at 5,956.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 48.88 points, or 0.26%, to 19,075.26.

Gains in technology shares .SPLRCT were offset by losses in healthcare .SPXHC, consumer staples .SPLRCS and other sectors.

Nvidia's results came near the end of a stronger-than-expected earnings period for S&P 500 companies.

"It's been a pretty constructive earnings season," said Tom Hainlin, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank.

A Reuters poll showed strategists still expect the S&P 500 to finish 2025 about 9% above current levels, although market volatility will persist.

Since last week, a series of data releases, including Tuesday's weak consumer sentiment report, have hinted that the world's largest economy might be stalling despite inflation remaining high, keeping investors on the edge.

Intuit INTU.O shares rose 12.6% after the TurboTax maker forecast third-quarter revenue above Street estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.13-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 91 new highs and 115 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 2,502 stocks rose and 1,917 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.31-to-1 ratio.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 14.58 billion shares, compared with the 15.4 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

(Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Richard Chang)

((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))