Why investors are increasingly fatalistic

SALES of Nvidia’s most advanced chips “are off the charts”, said Jensen Huang on Nov 19, while reporting his firm’s record-high quarterly revenues. The boss of the world’s most valuable company had much to celebrate. It raked in US$57 billion in the three months to October, at a gross profit margin of over 70 per cent – the stuff of investors’ dreams.

Yet the following day, Nvidia’s share price fell by 3 per cent. It is now 13 per cent below its peak in October.

Across markets, the mood among shareholders has shifted from bullish to fatalistic. Stocks have been soaring for years, fuelled by hopes that artificial intelligence will supercharge profits – hopes that most professional investors now think are overly optimistic.