• Target drops after missing quarterly comparable sales estimates
• Indexes briefly pare gains after Fed minutes
• September US jobs report due on Thursday
• Indexes: Dow up 0.1%, S&P 500 up 0.4%, Nasdaq up 0.6%

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended a choppy session higher on Wednesday, bouncing off recent losses as technology stocks rose ahead of Nvidia's quarterly results.

Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab shares gained more than 5% after ending the regular session up 2.8% as the artificial intelligence leader forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) , opens new tab rose 2.8% after the bell, while Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab was up 1.6% and Palantir Technologies (PLTR.O) , opens new tab was up 4%.

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"The market is breathing a big, collective sigh of relief because Nvidia is confirming that AI demand is strong," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York. "If it sticks and stays by tomorrow's close ... this little pullback in the market could end." The S&P 500 is still down more than 3% from its October highs.

Indexes briefly pared gains during the regular session after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting showed policymakers cautioned that lower borrowing costs could undermine the fight against inflation. The Fed cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point at each of its meetings in September and October.

Worries about a cooling labor market persisted ahead of Thursday's release of the September U.S. jobs report following the record-long U.S. government shutdown. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said it will not publish the October employment report, but will instead combine nonfarm payrolls for that month with November's report.

Nvidia's results have been seen as a test for the AI-driven rally that has powered the market to record highs this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 47.03 points, or 0.10%, to 46,138.77, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 24.84 points, or 0.38%, to 6,642.16 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab advanced 131.38 points, or 0.59%, to 22,564.23.

Investors have worried about how companies will be able to make money from their huge investments in AI.

Among decliners, Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab shares fell 2.8% after the retailer reported a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly sales as cash-strapped U.S. consumers cut back on discretionary spending.

Shares of Walmart (WMT.N) , opens new tab, which is due to report earnings on Thursday before the bell, ended 0.8% lower.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.59-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, where there were 55 new highs and 211 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 1,846 stocks rose and 2,851 fell, as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.54-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and 22 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 305 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.46 billion shares, compared with the roughly 20.2 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-stock-futures-steady-lead-up-nvidia-test-2025-11-19/