Investing.com -- 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.
Tesla battles for CEO Musk’s pay package
In the corporate sector, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock fell 1% as the electric car manufacturer has initiated its battle for legal recognition of Chief Executive Elon Musk's massive $56 billion pay package after shareholders voted in favor of the compensation agreement, after a judge had previously voided the pay earlier this year.
Elsewhere, Chegg (NYSE:CHGG) stock jumped 3% after the education technology group announced plans to slash 23% of its global workforce as part of a broader restructuring push.
Lennar (NYSE:LEN) stock dropped nearly 5% after the homebuilder forecast its third-quarter home deliveries below expectations, a sign that demand for new homes is expected to remain sluggish as mortgage rates hover at a two-decade high.
GameStop (NYSE:GME) stock fell 2%, continuing the previous session’s sharp losses, after CEO Ryan Cohen told investors that the video game retailer plans to operate a smaller network of stores.