Nvidia and other tech stocks pull Wall Street higher

FINANCIAL MARKETS

A trader works on the floor Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange in New York’s Financial District. SETH WENIG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Stan Choe

The Associated Press

NEW YORK >> Rising technology stocks Monday helped U.S. indexes recover some more of their holiday-season slide that bridged the new year.

The S&P 500 added 0.6% for a second straight gain following five straight losses, its longest losing streak since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost an early gain to slip 25 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.2%.

Slightly more stocks fell in the S&P 500 than rose amid the mixed trading. Tech companies were the clear leaders, including those swept up in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Nvidia climbed 3.4% to top its record set in November ahead of a speech by CEO Jensen Huang at the annual CES convention in Las Vegas after trading ended for the day.

Nvidia and other AI stocks keep climbing even as criticism rises that their stock prices have already shot too high, too fast. Despite worries about a potential bubble, the industry continues to talk up its potential.

Microsoft Vice Chair Brad Smith said late Friday the company is on track to invest about $80 billion to build out AI-enabled datacenters to train AI models this fiscal year. Smith said AI is the biggest opportunity “to harness new technology to invigorate the nation’s economy” since the invention of electricity. Microsoft rose 1.1%.

Uber Technologies drove 2.7% higher after the ride-hailing app said it would accelerate $1.5 billion in purchases of its own stock, part of a previously announced $7 billion buyback program. Uber’s chief financial officer, Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, said it’s making the move because its stock price looks cheap compared with the strength of its business.

In the old economy, U.S. Steel climbed 8.1% after it and Japan’s Nippon Steel filed a federal lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s decision to block a proposed nearly $15 billion deal for Nippon to buy its Pittsburgh-based rival.

The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, alleges that it was a political decision and violated the companies’ due process. Japanese leaders have also said there is scant evidence that the merger would create a security concern for the U.S.