The S&P 500 closed at another record high on Tuesday as Nvidia rallied to usurp Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) as the most valuable company, pushing the broader tech sector higher and overshadowing economic data pointing to a more wary U.S. consumer.
By 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to fresh closing high of 5,487.97, and had hit an intraday record of 5,490.74 earlier in the day. The NASDAQ Composite was 0.02% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 56 points, or 0.2%,
Nvidia leaps above Microsoft to claim crown of most valuable company crown
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose more than 3%, pushing its market cap to $3.34 trillion, surpassing Microsoft’s $3.31T, making the chipmaker the most valuable company by market cap.
The latest surge in the chipmaker comes on the heels of bullish call from Rosenblatt Securities raising its price target on the latter to $200 from $140 a share, suggesting nearly 50% upside from its current price.
Rosenblatt talked up the potential of Nvidia’s software seeing a surge in demand over the next decade as it “complements all the hardware goodness.”
Retail sales show weakness
U.S. retail sales increased at a slower-than-anticipated rate on a monthly basis in May, rising 0.1%, an improvement from a downwardly-revised decline of 0.2% in April.
Economists had predicted that retail sales, which mostly reflect goods and are not adjusted for inflation, would grow by 0.3%.
The weak retail sales figure could impact the outlook for the wider economy, which may in turn influence how the Federal Reserve approaches potential interest rate reductions later this year.
