Last but not least

Major U.S. stock indexes were lower.

Communications services led S&P 500 sector decliners, while industrials rose the most.

The STOXX 600 was up 0.3%.

Oil and gold were down; the dollar and bitcoin were up.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was up at 4.66%.

Nvidia's NVDA.O earnings report, due after the closing bell, is among the last of the S&P 500 companies to post this season, but it is far from the least.

Its report "carries implications well beyond a single stock, serving as an important gauge of investor conviction in the broader AI buildout," writes Jack Ablin, founding partner and chief investment strategist at Cresset Capital.

Nvidia, he notes, represents one of the largest weights in the S&P 500 .SPX so the report is closer to a macro event than a single stock report.

"Most equity portfolios, whether through direct holdings, index funds, or thematic technology exposure, carry meaningful NVIDIA risk, and the stock’s reaction has repeatedly set the tone for the broader market in the day and week that follows. We treat this print as a read on the health of the entire artificial intelligence capital-spending cycle, not merely a check on one company’s quarterly numbers," he says.

Ablin adds: "With expectations already elevated, investors will be watching forward guidance, margins, demand durability, and the company’s expanding investment strategy for signs that the structural AI growth story remains intact."