Thursday's ETF with Unusual Volume: FTXL
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Dec 12 2024
0mins
Source: NASDAQ.COM
ETF Trading Activity: The First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF saw significant trading volume on Thursday, with Nvidia down 1.3% and Intel up 2.5%, while Micron Technology lagged with a 4.2% decline.
Market Commentary: The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent Nasdaq, Inc.
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Analyst Views on NVDA
Wall Street analysts forecast NVDA stock price to rise
41 Analyst Rating
39 Buy
1 Hold
1 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 207.410
Low
200.00
Averages
264.97
High
352.00
Current: 207.410
Low
200.00
Averages
264.97
High
352.00
About NVDA
NVIDIA Corporation is an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company. The Company is engaged in accelerated computing to help solve the challenging computational problems. Its segments include Compute & Networking and Graphics. The Compute & Networking segment includes its Data Center accelerated computing and networking platforms and AI solutions and software, and automotive platforms and autonomous and electric vehicle solutions, including software. The Graphics segment includes GeForce GPUs for gaming and personal computers (PCs), and Quadro/NVIDIA RTX GPUs for enterprise workstation graphics. Its technology stack includes the foundational NVIDIA CUDA development platform that runs on all NVIDIA GPUs, as well as hundreds of domain-specific software libraries, frameworks, algorithms, software development kits (SDKs), and application programming interfaces (APIs). Its platforms address four markets, which include Data Center, Gaming, Professional Visualization, and Automotive.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- Stellar Financial Performance: Nvidia achieved a staggering 1,250% revenue increase and a 4,000% net income surge in 2023, driving a 1,320% rise in stock price, showcasing the company's robust performance and market dominance in AI.
- Data Center Growth: The company commands an 85% to 92% share of the data center GPU market, with global spending expected to reach $7 trillion by 2030, further solidifying Nvidia's leadership position in this booming sector.
- Optimistic Future Outlook: CEO Jensen Huang stated that Nvidia has visibility into $500 billion in sales over the next two years, with expectations to exceed $1 trillion in revenue by 2027, indicating strong growth potential ahead.
- Accelerated R&D Cycle: By shortening its GPU update cycle to 12-18 months compared to competitors' 3-5 years, Nvidia enhances its competitive edge in AI, with projections suggesting a market cap of $20 trillion by 2030.
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- Return Comparison: DGP's five-year return of 242.93% significantly outpaces UGL's 200.29%, indicating DGP's structural advantage as an ETN, despite its direct credit risk tied to Deutsche Bank.
- Structural Differences: As an ETN issued by Deutsche Bank, DGP tracks an index calculation rather than holding physical futures, thus avoiding investor-level rolling costs, while UGL must roll futures contracts, which affects its performance due to contango or backwardation.
- Tax Implications: UGL holders receive a Schedule K-1 tax form, adding annual complexity, while DGP offers a 1099 form, simplifying tax handling and appealing to a broader investor base.
- Liquidity Considerations: UGL boasts larger asset size and tighter spreads, whereas DGP's smaller footprint can lead to wider bid-ask spreads during volatility, and the ETN carries closure or early redemption risks that UGL does not face.
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- AI Model Competition Goal: Amazon's executive Peter DeSantis stated that the company aims to compete with frontier AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic within the next year, despite currently lagging behind in large workload models.
- Nova2 Customer Base: Amazon's latest AI model, Nova2, has attracted around 50,000 customers, with DeSantis expressing excitement, although he admits the model has not yet reached the standard of being one of the most capable intelligent models, the company remains optimistic about its future development.
- Semiconductor Strategy: Amazon designs its own custom chips under the Trainium and Graviton brands, with DeSantis highlighting that this strategy allows the company to drive optimal performance for its AI models and compete against rivals like Nvidia.
- Cloud Computing Capacity: Amazon effectively rents out its computing capacity through its cloud division AWS, and while there are currently no plans to sell Trainium chips to third parties, DeSantis mentioned that the company may consider this option in the future to meet the innovative demands of AI infrastructure.
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- Intel Trading Performance: Intel's stock rose approximately 4.1% on Wednesday with over 49.7 million shares traded, indicating investor confidence in its future prospects, potentially driving further growth in the semiconductor market.
- Nvidia Trading Situation: Although Nvidia's stock remained flat, it saw a trading volume exceeding 49.1 million shares, suggesting ongoing market interest, which may reflect investor expectations regarding its technological innovations.
- Robinhood Market Performance: Robinhood Markets performed the best on Wednesday, with its stock rising about 11%, likely linked to increased user growth and trading activity, further solidifying its market position in retail trading platforms.
- Carvana Trading Decline: Carvana's stock fell approximately 7.8%, lagging behind other components of the iShares Disciplined Volatility Equity Active ETF, which may reflect market concerns about its financial health, impacting its future financing capabilities.
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- Market Performance Analysis: Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has seen a roughly 10% increase in stock price since the beginning of the year, but with the S&P 500 rising nearly 9%, shareholders are barely outperforming the market, indicating cautious sentiment regarding future growth.
- Industry Standard Position: Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the benchmark for AI computing, having been utilized across various sectors for over 30 years, which positions the company favorably for significant future growth in computationally intensive workloads.
- Optimistic Long-Term Outlook: Nvidia's management projects that AI infrastructure spending will reach $1 trillion by 2027 and rise to $3 trillion to $4 trillion annually by 2030, establishing a solid foundation for the company's future performance growth.
- Attractive Valuation: Currently, Nvidia's forward P/E ratio stands at 22.9, slightly above the S&P 500's 21.5, but when factoring in next year's forecast results, its valuation drops to just 16 times earnings, creating a favorable opportunity for stock price recovery in the latter half of 2026.
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- Market Performance Analysis: Despite Nvidia's strong performance from 2023 to 2025, its stock has only risen about 10% in 2026, slightly outperforming the S&P 500's nearly 9% increase, indicating shareholder returns are barely beating the market and reflecting cautious sentiment regarding future growth.
- Industry Standard Position: Nvidia has become the world's largest company due to its GPUs dominating the AI computing space, achieving an impressive 85% year-over-year growth in the latest quarter, underscoring its critical role in data centers and the ongoing AI build-out.
- Optimistic Long-Term Outlook: Nvidia's management projects that AI infrastructure spending will reach $1 trillion by 2027 and rise to $3 trillion to $4 trillion annually by 2030, indicating significant market potential ahead, although the current market has not yet priced in these expected growth figures.
- Valuation Attractiveness: With a forward P/E ratio of 22.9, Nvidia is only slightly more expensive than the S&P 500's 21.5, and when factoring in next year's forecast results, its valuation drops to just 16 times forward earnings, suggesting strong upside potential for the remainder of 2026, especially as more AI hyperscalers reveal their 2027 capital expenditure budgets.
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