Tech stocks lead Wall Street after strong Nvidia, Salesforce forecasts driven by AI demand

Technology stocks are leading Wall Street on Thursday after Nvidia, Salesforce and others reported even fatter profits for the spring than analysts expected. The S&P 500 added 0.7% and pulled closer to its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 172 points, or 0.3%, as of 12:32 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher. Nvidia was the strongest force pulling the market higher, even though more stocks fell within the S&P 500 than rose. The chip giant climbed 9% after once again delivering much stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. More importantly for Wall Street, it also gave forecasts for upcoming revenue growth that topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting demand remains strong for chips to power artificial-intelligence projects. “AI has reached its inflection point,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. “It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable.” That helped calm some of the worries that have built around AI stocks generally, which have been under pressure recently. After rocketing higher for years in the frenzy around AI, stocks in the industry are confronting skepticism…