Cisco Sends Nasdaq, S&P 500 to New Highs: Stock Market Today

Why It Matters

Cisco’s beat and upgraded AI order guidance underscore growing enterprise demand for networking and AI solutions, bolstering confidence in the tech sector’s earnings momentum. The strong market debut of Cerebras and renewed optimism for Nvidia signal renewed investor appetite for AI‑related equities despite earlier IPO slowdown.

Key Takeaways

• Cisco earnings beat expectations, shares jump 13.4%
• AI infrastructure orders forecast $9 billion, up from $5 billion
• Cerebras IPO raises $5.55 billion, shares close at $311
• Nvidia gains 4.4% after Trump‑Xi summit, China sales hinted
• Cisco plans 4,000 job cuts in fiscal Q4

Pulse Analysis

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closed at record levels on Thursday, driven largely by a wave of positive earnings from the technology sector. Cisco Systems led the charge, posting $1.06 earnings per share on $15.8 billion of revenue, comfortably ahead of the $1.04 consensus. Management highlighted a surge in artificial‑intelligence infrastructure and hyperscaler orders, lifting its full‑year order forecast to $9 billion from $5 billion. The upbeat results not only propelled Cisco stock 13.4% higher—its best single‑day gain since 2020—but also reinforced the narrative that enterprise AI spending is accelerating.

The AI boom also found a headline‑making debut in Cerebras Systems, which raised $5.55 billion by pricing 30 million shares at $185 each, one of the largest U.S. IPOs of 2026. The stock opened at $350, peaked at $385 and settled at $311, underscoring robust demand for AI‑hardware providers despite lingering concerns about an AI bubble. Cerebras’ valuation reflects investors’ willingness to back companies that supply the custom silicon needed for large‑scale models, a segment that is rapidly expanding as cloud hyperscalers scale out their compute capacity.

Nvidia’s 4.4% rally added another layer of optimism, as CEO Jensen Huang participated in the Trump‑Xi summit and signaled potential sales of the H200 chip to a limited group of Chinese firms. While actual shipments have yet to begin, the prospect of re‑entering the Chinese market could unlock a sizable revenue stream for the chipmaker, which has been largely shut out by export controls. Analysts now expect Nvidia’s upcoming earnings to test whether demand for high‑end AI chips can sustain the current hype, a factor that could shape the broader tech market trajectory for the rest of the year.