Stock market today: Nvidia and other tech stocks pull Wall Street higher

NEW YORK (AP) — Rising technology stocks on 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 on 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.

Those winners helped offset more drops for owners of real estate, which have struggled recently amid rising longer-term interest rates. Real-estate stocks in the S&P 500 fell 1.4% for the biggest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the index.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 32.91 points to 5,975.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 25.57 to 42,706.56, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 243.30 to 19,864.98.

This upcoming week will have one fewer day of trading than usual. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will close their stock and options markets on Thursday in observance of a National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter.

But the calendar is nevertheless packed with potentially market-moving events. Tuesday will deliver the latest updates on monthly job openings advertised by U.S. employers and on the health of businesses in the services industries. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its last policy meeting, where it cut its main interest rate for a third straight time but hinted fewer reductions may arrive in 2025.

Friday will bring the week’s headliner: the monthly jobs report, along with an update on how U.S. consumers are feeling.

So far, the economy has remained remarkably resilient despite high interest rates the Fed instituted in recent years to stifle inflation. A report on Monday said a measure of activity for services businesses hit its highest level in nearly three years.

“Business activity in the vast services economy surged higher in the closing month of 2024 on fuller order books and rising optimism about prospects for the year ahead,” according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The Fed has been trying to give the economy an easier time, and it began cutting interest rates in September after inflation pulled nearly all the way down to its 2% target. But getting the last percentage point of improvement from inflation may prove more difficult. Worries are also rising that tariffs and other policies coming from President-elect Donald Trump could put upward pressure on inflation.

That's caused worries about rates staying higher than expected, and longer-term Treasury yields have climbed in the bond market as a result. That can hurt stock prices because higher-paying bonds can peel away investors who otherwise might buy stocks.

At Morgan Stanley, strategist Michael Wilson says the sweet spot for U.S. stocks is likely when the yield on the 10-year Treasury is between 4.00% and 4.50%. It drove above that level in mid-December and has remained there. It’s up to 4.61%, up from 4.60% late Friday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. France’s CAC 40 jumped 2.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped 1.5%.

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AP Writers Matt Ott, Zimo Zhong and Mari Yamaguchi contributed.