U.S. stocks hovered around both sides of the flatline on Thursday as traders assessed quarterly earnings from artificial intelligence-darling Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and fresh tariff remarks from President Donald Trump.

By 10:04 ET (15:04 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 81 points or 0.2%, the benchmark S&P 500 had erased earlier gains to trade down by 24 points or 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had shed 201 points or 1.0%.

Stocks in Asia provided a broadly weaker handover, with tech shares in particular receiving limited direction from Nvidia’s results. In Europe, the regional STOXX 600 dipped after Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs on the European Union.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar strengthened and Treasury yields -- which typically move inversely to prices -- edged up as markets gauged the latest developments around Trump’s tariff plans and the outlook for the wider economy. Bitcoin also fell.

Nvidia’s good-not-great earnings

Shares in Nvidia edged lower on Thursday after a choppy premarket session, as a higher-than-anticipated current-quarter sales projection was counterbalanced by a narrowing in profit margins.

A figurehead of the AI boom and market bellwether, Nvidia said it now expects to post revenue of roughly $43 billion in the first quarter, compared with analyst expectations of around $42 billion. Fourth-quarter revenue rose by 78% versus a year ago to $39.3 billion and net income increased by 80% to $22 billion, both topping estimates, thanks largely to solid sales of its new Blackwell AI chips.

But the semiconductor giant noted that its income margins had dropped due in part to an uptick in costs around its new data center gear and larger pay packages for its growing workforce.

Crucially, the figures suggested that a recent spike in demand for high-powered and expensive computing technology remains strong even after the emergence of a low-cost AI model from Chinese start-up DeepSeek earlier this year. CEO Jensen Huang called DeepSeek, which raised questions around the necessity of heavy AI spending and sparked a market sell-off in January that wiped $593 billion off Nvidia’s market value in a single day, "an excellent innovation."

"Bottom line: on an absolute basis, the Nvidia report is solid/fine, although not perfect," analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note to clients.

Dell (NYSE:DELL) is due to highlight the earnings slate after the bell on Thursday, with investors keen to receive an update to the firm’s outlook for PC and IT spending by enterprise customers.

Trump tariff comments in focus

President Trump said that his proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico would come into effect on March 4 as scheduled, arguing that drugs are still entering the U.S. from those countries.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump added that China will face an additional 10% surcharge that day.

On Wednesday, Trump appeared to indicate that postponed import tariffs on Canada and Mexico could be delayed by roughly another month, saying the levies would come into effect on April 2.

"I have to tell you that, you know, on April 2, I was going to do it on April 1," Trump said. "But I’m a little bit superstitious, I made it April 2, the tariffs go on. Not all of them but a lot of them."

However, a White House official later said that Trump’s prior deadline of March 4 was still in effect "as of this moment," with a review of actions taken by Canada and Mexico to boost border security pending.

The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso both firmed against the U.S. dollar following Trump’s comments. The greenback also strengthened.

Gold prices slipped on Thursday as the yellow metal was weighed down by a stronger U.S. dollar and an uptick in Treasury yields.

Traders were also looking ahead to a crucial reading of U.S. inflation later in the week that is closely monitored by Federal Reserve policymakers.

Soft guidance dents eBay shares

In individual stocks, shares in eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) plunged after the e-commerce giant provided weaker-than-expected revenue guidance for the first quarter, overshadowing a fourth-quarter earnings beat.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) shares also fell after the software group unveiled a revenue outlook that came up short analyst estimates.

Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) dropped after the retailer issued a below-consensus forecast for its first quarter.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) reported fourth-quarter core earnings at its retail unit that topped expectations, sending shares in the Texas-based energy utility higher.

Elsewhere, oil prices climbed, rebounding from two straight negative sessions, after Trump announced a reversal of a license given to Chevron (NYSE:CVX) to operate in Venezuela. The move prompted renewed concerns over tightening supplies.