US: Tech shares lifted by artificial intelligence boom

TECH shares led the market higher on Monday on another round of artificial intelligence enthusiasm as investors looked ahead to a Federal Reserve meeting.

“There’s some renewed excitement after a down couple of weeks about the artificial intelligence revolution,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 0.8 per cent at 16,103.45.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent to 38,790.43, while the broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.6 per cent to 5,149.42.

Investor buzz was high ahead of Nvidia’s GTC 2024 gathering, an annual developers’ conference for one of the biggest players in AI. CEO Jensen Huang was due to speak later on Monday.

Google-parent Alphabet also got an AI-related lift, rising 4.4 per cent following a Bloomberg report that Apple was in talks to build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence platform into its smartphones.

Apple’s shares rose 0.6 per cent.

While markets were focused on AI on Monday, the week’s calendar also features Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision, which will update the market on the likelihood of interset rate cuts this year.

Given that markets expect three interest rate cuts in 2024, a move by the Fed to signal either more or fewer cuts could prompt a significant investor reaction, Hogan said.

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Among individual companies, Science Applications International Corp., an information technology company that works extensively with the US government, fell around 10 per cent after reporting earnings that lagged estimates. AFP