Nasdaq ends sharply up, fueled by Nvidia and Amazon

The Nasdaq ended sharply higher on Thursday, lifted by gains in Nvidia and other technology-related stocks as investors focused on the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole conference for clues about the central bank’s policy outlook.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to give a speech on Friday that investors will dissect for indications of how aggressively the Fed may move to raise interest rates as it battles decades-high inflation.

“We’re in a period of time between the end of the second-quarter earnings season and meaningful additional data from the Federal Reserve. Markets are churning a bit with a reasonably low level of volatility,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.