Stocks mostly rise with Nvidia; dollar inches up vs yen

FILE PHOTO: A person walks pass a Nvidia logo at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan June 5, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stock indexes mostly climbed on Tuesday, with shares of chipmaker Nvidia bouncing after recent losses, while the dollar gained slightly against the Japanese yen.

Nvidia's stock was up more than 5% in afternoon U.S. trading. The Nasdaq was more than 1% higher, and the S&P 500 technology and communication services sectors were the only two positive sectors on the day.

Excitement over artificial intelligence has powered stocks like Nvidia higher and helped to lift the U.S. stock market to recent record highs, but it remains to be seen whether that will continue, or for how long.

The chipmaker had rocketed higher to briefly become the world's biggest company last week, but tumbled around 16 percent from last Thursday's peak to this Monday's close.

"It's another day of fairly narrow equity markets," said Chad Oviatt, director of investment management at The Huntington National Bank in Akron, Ohio.

"The Mag 7 seem to be pushing things... and that's been a theme all year," he said, referring to the Magnificent 7 group of tech-related stocks, which include Nvidia. "A lot of market participants are just waiting for some additional broadening out" of the market.

Investors are also gearing up for data on the personal consumption expenditures price index on Friday, which could provide further clues on the inflation picture and when the Federal Reserve might begin cutting interest rates.

They also await snap elections in France starting at the weekend and the first U.S. Presidential debate on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 312.71 points, or 0.79%, to 39,098.50, the S&P 500 gained 14.85 points, or 0.27%, to 5,462.72 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 197.54 points, or 1.13%, to 17,694.36.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 1.90 points, or 0.24%, to 803.18. The STOXX 600 index fell 0.23%.

The U.S. dollar rose, bolstered in part by hawkish comments from a Fed official.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman repeated her view on Tuesday that holding the policy rate steady "for some time" will likely be enough to bring inflation under control. She also reiterated her willingness to raise borrowing costs if needed.

The yen was keeping traders alert for any signs of further intervention from Japanese authorities to prop up the currency as it traded just above a two-month low of around 160 to the dollar.

It hit a record low against the euro of 171.49 on Monday as pressure on the currency mounted thanks to interest rates in Japan that remain far lower than in the United States and Europe.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.08% at 159.71.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, gained 0.1% at 105.62, with the euro down 0.18% at $1.0713.

In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 0.6 basis points to 4.242%, from 4.248% late on Monday.

U.S. crude lost 0.7% to $81.06 a barrel and Brent fell to $85.24 per barrel, down 0.9% on the day.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Harry Robertson in London and Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Peter Graff and Nick Zieminski)