Once again we have reached the most important day of the earnings season: according to Barclays strategists, today's results from Nvidia, the world's largest company, will be the most important catalyst left this year, more than the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, which - now that the elections are over - makes today's earnings report the most important remaining event of 2024.
And the market is ready: NVDA's earnings report has been a key driver of volatility for the S&P 500 and other major ETFs over the past two years. According to Goldman, option pricing suggests that investors expect this NVDA earnings day to be very significant, with the NVDA 22-Nov straddles implying a +/- 8.3% move over the next three days, while NVDA has averaged a move of +/-9.3% on its past 8 earnings days. SMH and SPY options are pricing modestly higher than normal straddle prices.
Before we dig deeper, here is what Wall Street expects from NVDA when it reports results 20 minutes after the close:
