Nvidia’s Earnings Buoyed The Broader Markets. All Indexes Climbed.

Stocks climbed on Thursday as Nvidia's better-than-expected results from Wednesday buoyed the markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.20%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.72%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, in which Nvidia has a significant ponderation, jumped 1.57%. The company led by CEO Jensen Huang gained almost 9%.

Investors will now turn their attention to Fed chair Kevin Warsh's address in Jackson Hole on Friday, as the gathering in Wyoming has traditionally offered Fed chairs an opportunity to signal where monetary policy is headed.

Investors are unsure whether Warsh, who took over as Fed chair in May, will follow the tradition of informing investors on future monetary policy when he delivers his debut speech.

Warsh has moved away from the forward guidance that markets became accustomed to under previous Fed leadership, arguing instead that investors should pay closer attention to economic and market signals.

The approach has left traders trying to decipher how the central bank intends to bring inflation back to its 2% target while long-term Treasury yields are already tightening financial conditions.

At the center of the debate is Warsh's suggestion at last month's policy meeting that higher bond yields could reduce the need for the Fed to raise interest rates. When Treasury yields rise, borrowing costs can increase across the economy, affecting mortgages, corporate debt and other forms of credit.

Some investors, however, worry that relying too heavily on the bond market could complicate the Fed's inflation fight, particularly because long-term yields are being driven by forces beyond expectations for monetary policy.

Some in the Fed have already called for hikes. Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack reiterated her call for a hike of interest rates on Thursday.

Speaking from Jackson Hole, Hammack said "now is the time to act" on the matter. "I believe that we've been in an inflationary situation for more than five years. It's been running well above our target. I don't see any restriction in policy when I look at financial conditions and when I talk to market participants," she added.

Hammack had already voted to hike interest rates and has claimed more than one could be needed. "In general, one 25 basis point move probably doesn't do a whole lot for the economy," she said earlier this month.

Kansas City Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Schmid also said on Thursday that inflation is "still stubborn and it's still sticky," and the central bank has not yet managed to "break through."

Schmidt, who does not vote on FOMC decisions, added that Fed members will "have our work cut out for us as we move into the cycle."

The central bank kept rates unchanged in its July meeting, but three officials voted for a hike. The minutes released last week showed that members of the Federal Open Market Committee said they would need to hike rates unless inflation cools over the next months.