Nvidia (NVDA)

Quantum computing stocks plunged on Wednesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that "useful quantum computers" were likely 20 years away.

This prompted steep falls in sector leaders, with Rigetti Computing (RGTI), IonQ Inc (IONQ), and Quantum Computing (QUBT) tumbling more than 40% during the trading session.

Huang's comments on Tuesday in a Q&A session with analysts at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), came a day after the CEO unveiled Nvidia's new products during a keynote speech at the conference.

This included the company's GB10 superchip, which it said would be available in a small desktop called Project DIGITS. Huang also debuted Nvidia's open model license Cosmos platform for developing physical AI systems. These physical AI systems include technologies such as humanoid robots and self-driving robots.

While shares closed at a record high ahead of Huang's highly-anticipated speech, the stock then slumped more than 6% in Tuesday's session. Shares then closed Wednesday's session flat and were down nearly 1% in pre-market trading on Thursday.

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Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, said: "While Nvidia showcased exciting innovations, much of the demand for its existing hardware — especially in AI — was already well-known," she said. "Without fresh revenue catalysts, the announcements may have lacked the punch needed to excite investors seeking upside in the near term."

"Tuesday’s sell-off in Nvidia shares may have been a classic case of 'buy the rumor, sell the fact'.

"While the lack of near-term catalysts weighed on sentiment, Nvidia’s long-term growth story remains compelling."

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that US president Joe Biden's administration was planning to announce additional restrictions on exports of AI chips from the likes of Nvidia.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, which deals with chip export controls, had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK's request for comment at the time of writing. A spokesperson for Nvidia also did not immediately respond to request for comment.

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Costco (COST)

Wholesale retailer Costco posted net sales of $27.52bn (£22.4bn) for December, in figures released on Wednesday, which represented 10% growth on the $25.03bn it reported for the same period last year.

Sales were up 8% in the first 18 weeks of Costco's fiscal year, rising to $94.04bn, compared with $87.07bn last year.

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Costco said growth in e-commerce sales was helped by Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday occurring a week later this year.

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Shares in the retailer were little changed in Wednesday's session but were up nearly 2% in pre-market trading on Thursday.

Despite an uncertain consumer environment, Costco managed to slightly beat estimates in its first quarter results, released in December, as inflation-weary shoppers turned to the retailer.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.04, compared to Bloomberg consensus estimates of $3.81. Meanwhile, revenue of $62.15bn also beat expectations of $61.98bn.

"Our members are willing to spend as inflation comes down" as long as there's "newness of items, quality, and value," CFO Gary Millerchip said on its earnings call at the time.

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eBay (EBAY)

Shares in eBay surged 10% in Wednesday's session after social media platform Meta (META) announced that it would test launch eBay listings on Facebook Marketplace.

Meta said that the test would be launched in the US, France and Germany.

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