S&P 500 climbs to another record close Tuesday as Nvidia's market cap tops Microsoft

The S&P 500 rose to a fresh record as artificial intelligence darling Nvidia continued its march to new highs, topping Microsoft as the most valuable public company.

The broad market index added 0.25% to close at 5,487.03, while the Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.03% to end at 17,862.23. The tech-heavy index also closed at a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.76 points, or 0.15%, to settle at 38,834.86.

“You see investors trying to ride this train as long as they can with Nvidia and the usual suspects, but now you also got those second-tier names” participating, said Mahoney Asset Management’s Ken Mahoney. “Money isn’t leaving the market, but I do sense a rotation out of the leaders for this quarter.”

Nvidia jumped 3.5% to surpass Microsoft as the most valuable public company, and continue its milestone run after topping a $3 trillion market cap and breezing past Apple in value earlier this month. The chipmaker has surged 174% since the start of the year as enthusiasm for AI shows no signs of dwindling.

Some semiconductor stocks also rose in sympathy, with Qualcomm and Taiwan Semiconductor up 2.2% and 1.4%, respectively. Micron Technology gained 3.8%. The sector also caught a bid from declining Treasury yields on the heels of weaker-than-expected retail sales report that spurred hopes for some economic slowing and Federal Reserve rate cut rates.

“Without the consumer, this bull market is going to stall out, so investors need to see more consumer spending and not a material slowdown, which this report could be indicating,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance.

Tuesday’s moves follow a positive session on Wall Street that propelled the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to all-time highs and record closing levels.

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Samantha Subin, CNBC

Samantha Subin is a digital news associate with CNBC.

Alex Harring, CNBC