Nvidia leads Wall Street higher, Asian stock markets follow the rebound

2026-02-22 06:26:20

According to Yahoo News on February 19, on Thursday, most Asian stock markets rose as Wall Street’s leading tech giant—Nvidia (NVDA.US)—led the rebound in U.S. stocks.

Meanwhile, U.S. futures edged lower, and oil prices rose, with reports indicating that the likelihood of conflict with Iran is increasing. U.S. President Trump has been weighing whether to take military action against Iran. His administration is deploying additional military resources to the region and engaging in indirect negotiations with Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program. This has raised concerns that any military strike could escalate into a larger conflict in the Middle East.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%.

Nvidia was a major driver of the market rally. On February 18, Eastern Time, after Meta (META.US) announced a long-term partnership with Nvidia, Nvidia’s stock rose 1.6%. Under the agreement, Meta will purchase millions of Nvidia chips and other equipment for its AI data centers.

“No one can deploy AI at such a large scale as Meta,” said Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. As Nvidia is the most valuable company on Wall Street, its stock price became the single strongest force behind the rise of the S&P 500.

On February 19, major Asia-Pacific stock indices also mostly closed higher. The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.57%, at 57,467.83 points. Among the major stocks, Advantest led the decline, down 3.58%; KDDI fell 1.46%. Leading stocks included: Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG.US), up 4.27%; Mizuho Financial Group (MFG.US), up 3.90%; Keyence, up 3.12%; Shin-Etsu Chemical, up 3.46%; Tokyo Electron, up 2.86%. In news, surveys show that the Bank of Japan may raise its policy interest rate to 1% by the end of June, with 58% of economists expecting the rate to reach 1% by then.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed up 3.09%, at 5,677.07 points. Among the major stocks, Hanwha Ocean rose 8.32%, Alteogen increased 7.72%, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore rose 6.29%, Hyundai Merchant Marine gained 5.83%, and Hyundai Heavy Industries increased 5.71%. On the downside, Shinhan Financial Group (SHG.US) fell 2.15%, and AIA Financial Group declined 1.02%.

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