The 'Next $1T Company' Just Had Its Best Day Ever

The US stock market inched to more records Tuesday as winners of the artificial-intelligence boom kept driving higher.

• The S&P 500 rose 9.82 points, or 0.1%, to 7,609.78 after drifting between small gains and losses through the day.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 228.91 points, or 0.4%, to 51,307.79.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 7.09 points, or less than 0.1%, to 27,093.90.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise helped lead the market, and its stock soared 19.5% after it reported a profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts' expectations, the AP reports. It credited demand from customers building their artificial-intelligence capabilities.

Marvell Technology leaped 32.5% for its best day since its stock began trading in 2000 after Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, suggested at a conference in Taiwan that Marvell could be "the next trillion-dollar company." The last company to enter the expanding club of behemoths was Micron Technology, which is likewise riding the AI wave. Nvidia, which slipped 0.7%, has seen its total value top $5 trillion.

Generac climbed 5.7% after saying it signed a deal to provide backup power generators to an unnamed "leading hyperscale data center operator." Such "hyperscalers" are spending tremendous amounts of money to build huge AI data centers, which are powering what proponents believe is the next great revolution for the global economy.

• Alphabet is one of those hyperscalers, and the parent company of Google said it's raising $80 billion in cash to help pay for its investments by selling shares of its stock. It's planning to spend as much as $190 billion on equipment and other investments this year. That's more than all the stock of the Walt Disney Co. is worth, and Alphabet is forecasting its spending on investments next year will "significantly increase."
• Such huge sums raises questions about whether AI can produce the profits and productivity necessary to make all the investment worth it. Critics have already been talking about the possibility of a bubble in AI investment, and Alphabet's stock fell 3.9%. It was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
• Analysts have been saying the broad US stock market may be set for a slowdown following an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023. The rally has been largely due to strong profit reports from US companies, as well as hopes that the United States and Iran will reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.