Investors and traders in the stock market love to ride momentum, and the build-out of data processing infrastructure to support generative artificial intelligence seems likely to continue for some time.

The consensus among analysts polled by FactSet is for the AI-hardware leader Nvidia Corp. NVDA to increase its revenue by 55% in calendar 2025 to $191.45 billion. That would be a cool-down from the expected increase of 122% for calendar 2024 and the doubling of Nvidia's sales in calendar 2023.

So what might be the next tech-oriented momentum play for speculative investors? Joseph Adinolfi looked into the flurry of recent interest in companies developing quantum computing technology. This week's action for quantum-oriented stocks has been driven by Google's announcement of vast improvements in computer processing speeds and accuracy improvements for its Willow quantum chip.

For generative AI, concentrated coverage of the hardware build-out is understandable in light of Nvidia's revenue growth as it has dominated the market for graphics processing units that support the new technology. But what about the practical application of AI? Emily Bary explained how AI software stocks compare with AI hardware stocks.

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The chart above shows this year's movement for the U.S. Dollar Index DXY. The dollar is below its peak valuation for 2024, and it traded as high as 112.6 (as measured by the index against a basket of six other developed-market currencies) as recently as October 2022. But it is time for traders to lower their exposure to the dollar for this reason, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Related coverage of commodities markets:

The S&P 500 SPX has been holding up nicely. Through Thursday, the U.S. large-cap benchmark index was up 28.5% for 2024 with dividends reinvested. That is slightly better than it looked at the end of November. But since the end of last month, prices have declined for 76% of stocks in the S&P 500. Here's why that action is a warning for investors.