U.S. stocks extend early-year gains

Alsharq Tribune-Otaify 

 U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday, extending early-year gains as investors digested competing AI roadmaps from major chipmakers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.99 percent to 49,462.08, marking consecutive record closes for the blue-chip benchmark. The S&P 500 rose 0.62 percent to a new record high of 6,944.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.65 percent to 23,547.17.

Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended higher, led by materials and health care with increases of 2.04 percent and 1.96 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and communication services led the laggards by going down 2.81 percent and 0.49 percent, respectively.

At the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the company's next-generation Rubin AI computing platform, while AMD CEO Lisa Su followed with a preview of its competing Helios rack-scale system.

Nvidia and AMD shares slid 0.47 percent and 3.04 percent, respectively. Notable performers in the technology sector included Amazon, Micron Technology and Broadcom.

"Tech kind of took a pause at the back end of the year, but I don't think anyone questions that AI is a game changing technology," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird. "We're seeing the chip stocks lead. That's probably to be expected, but that cyclical rotation is still continuing."

Market participants are shifting focus to an intensive week of economic indicators, particularly labor market data, including upcoming releases on job openings, private payrolls, and the closely watched December non-farm payrolls report later in the week.