CRM +13% on Q2 EPS beat; NVDA: $96B revenue, profit up 126%

Wednesday closed with two of the year's most-anticipated earnings reports landing after the bell. The macro backdrop stayed composed.

Nvidia — fiscal Q2 2027

$NVDA posted $96 billion in quarterly revenue with net income up 126% year-over-year — both figures ahead of Wall Street's consensus. Management guided the next quarter strongly and reset the margin outlook upward. On the call, CEO Jensen Huang addressed analyst questions framing Nvidia's customer-financing arrangements as "circular" — a structure in which Nvidia capital ostensibly funds chip purchases that flow back to Nvidia as revenue. Huang disputed the characterization. The demand picture, as presented, remains intact.

Salesforce — fiscal Q2 2027

$CRM printed $5.90 in adjusted EPS against a $3.27 consensus — a $2.63 beat on a metric where a dime typically counts as significant. Revenue also exceeded estimates. The company raised full-year guidance and announced an expanded partnership with Anthropic. CEO Marc Benioff characterized it as "one of our best quarters ever." The stock was up 13% in after-hours trading at publication time.

Macro backdrop

The 10-year Treasury closed at 4.64%, VIX at 15.4, and WTI crude settled at $83.90. The rate level is not incidental: at 4.64%, high-multiple software stocks carry a persistent discount-rate headwind, which makes CRM's after-hours reaction more meaningful, not less. VIX at 15.4 is consistent with a low-fear session.

Session movers

$WMB (Williams Companies) gained 4.7% in the regular session; no filed catalyst appears in today's news window, and the driver is not attributable from available context. $LLY (Eli Lilly) fell 3.6% in a session that ran alongside headlines about a new Alzheimer's diagnostic tool and scrutiny of a Zepbound cost-savings study that measured medical savings while omitting the drug's own price. No single catalyst cleanly accounts for the full move.

AMD — update

Since Friday's coverage of CEO Lisa Su's $7.2 million preset share sale, a second $AMD executive has disclosed a $7.9 million prearranged sale under a separate 10b5-1 plan. Two scheduled dispositions at $AMD in five days is a pattern worth logging, even if each transaction individually reflects routine planning.

Filings desk

$FCX EVP and General Counsel Douglas Currault II exercised stock options and sold 80,000 shares for approximately $5.1 million on August 25, with total related activity at roughly $6.28 million per the filing summary. Option-exercise sales of this structure are routine and do not independently signal a change in outlook.

What we set aside

Nine filings were held for staleness — events more than 36 hours old at the time of disclosure. Five tickers were examined and produced nothing in the news window: BRK.B, EQIX, PM, VST, and WELL. Several stories published earlier this week — including NVDA's executive departure, PLTR, AMZN, KO, V, and COIN insider transactions — are off-limits today.

The desk is watching Thursday's open to see whether CRM's 13% after-hours gain holds into the session, and whether the 10-year at 4.64% begins to visibly reprice the broader software tape.