The New York Stock Exchange closed higher for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, with Nvidia at the forefront of a tech-driven surge.
Nvidia surpassed Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization.
Two Consecutive Days of Gains
The market maintained its upward momentum, driven by strong tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which barely joined the rising trend at the end of the previous day, rose by over 0.5%.
It closed at 42,519.64, up 214.16 points (0.51%).
The S&P 500 gained 34.43 points (0.58%) to 5,970.37, while the Nasdaq climbed 156.34 points (0.81%) to 19,398.96.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), often called the Wall Street fear gauge, dropped 0.67 points (3.65%) to 17.69.
Nvidia Surges to Top Market Cap
Nvidia led the charge on the market.
Investors were buoyed by hopes that a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could ease restrictions on Nvidia’s semiconductor exports to China.
Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis named Nvidia his top stock for the year, setting a 185 USD price target.
Curtis specifically projected that Nvidia would boost its gross margin to 70-80% this year, driven by its Blackwell AI chip platform. This optimistic forecast surpasses Nvidia’s 61% margin reported in Q1 of fiscal 2026, which ended April 27.
Riding this wave of optimism, Nvidia’s stock jumped 3.84 USD (2.80%) to 141.22 USD.
While Microsoft also gained, its rise was more modest, closing up 1.00 USD (0.22%) at 462.97 USD.
Consequently, Nvidia’s market cap swelled to 3.446 trillion USD, edging out Microsoft’s 3.441 trillion USD.
Meanwhile, Tesla initially surged over 3.7% but lost steam after Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized Trump’s tax cut proposal as a “disgusting abomination.”
Tesla finished at 344.27 USD, up 1.58 USD (0.46%).
Nuclear Stocks Show Mixed Results
Nuclear power companies started strong but ended the day with mixed performance.
Meta Platforms’ 20-year deal to purchase nuclear-generated electricity from Constellation Energy initially sparked a rally in the sector.
Starting June 2027, Meta will receive about 1.1 gigawatts of power from Constellation’s Illinois nuclear plant.
Experts generally view nuclear power as more suitable for AI’s need for a constant power supply compared to solar or wind.
Constellation opened with a 9% surge but reversed course, closing down 0.40 USD (0.13%) at 313.03 USD.
Small modular reactor (SMR) startups like NuScale Power and Oklo also saw early gains exceeding 7% before turning negative.
NuScale ended down 0.24 USD (0.75%) at 31.79 USD, while Oklo plummeted 2.67 USD (5.09%) to 49.77 USD.
Bucking the trend, Vistra soared 8.53 USD (5.09%) to 176.00 USD.
