Nvidia Leads Tech Rally as U.S. Approves AI Chip Sales to China

Nvidia leads Wall Street as US stocks drift around their records

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are drifting around their record levels in mixed trading on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher and nearing its all-time high, which was set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 167 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher. Tech stocks led the way after Nvidia said the U.S. government has assured it that licenses will be granted for its H20 chip again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon. Nvidia, which is Wall Street's most influential stock, rose 3.7%. Earlier this year, Nvidia had warned that U.S. restrictions on the chips used in artificial-intelligence development could chisel billions of dollars off its results for this fiscal year. Nvidia's announcement could also be an encouraging signal for trade talks between the world's two largest economies, as President Donald Trump threatens to impose stiff tariffs on exports from around the world unless countries open their economies up further to U.S. goods. Trump's tariffs may have been a factor behind the acceleration in inflation to 2.7% last month from 2.4% in May. But that wasn't far from what economists expected to see, and an underlying measure of inflation that economists think is a better predictor of future trends accelerated by less than feared. Altogether, the data caused Treasury yields to yo-yo a few times in the bond market, before they began rising. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.45% from 4.43% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, rose to 3.94% from 3.90%. A further acceleration in inflation could tie the hands of the Fed because cuts to interest rates can give inflation more fuel, along with helping to give the economy a boost. Traders are still betting overwhelmingly that the Fed will cut its main interest rate at least once by the end of the year, but they pulled back bets on the number of potential cuts, compared with a day before, according to data from CME Group. On Wall Street, stocks of big U.S. banks were mixed following their latest profit reports. JPMorgan Chase fell 1.1% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns. Citigroup rose 0.8%, and Wells Fargo fell 4.8% following their profit reports, which also topped analysts' expectations. In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped modestly in Europe after a mixed session in Asia. Indexes rose 1.6% in Hong Kong but fell 0.4% in Shanghai after a report said China's economic growth slowed only slightly last quarter despite pressure from Trump's tariffs. ___ AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed.

U.S. stocks drift mostly higher as Nvidia leads gains for tech

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks are drifting mostly higher following some mixed data on inflation and profits at some of the biggest U.S. banks. The S&P 500 was up 0.4 per cent in early trading Tuesday and sitting a bit above its all-time high set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 42 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.8 per cent. Nvidia helped lead tech stocks higher after the chip giant won approval from the U.S. government to sell its advanced H20 computer chips used for artificial intelligence to China. Citigroup rose after reporting profits that beat forecasts.