Shares of technology companies ticked up on continued speculation on artificial-intelligence issues.

Shares of Nvidia rose by more than 4%, bringing gains for the year to date to around 42%, or more than $450 billion in market value, ahead of the chipmaker's earnings, which are expected to show rising demand for its AI-enabling chips.

"Investors are at it again with Nvidia," said J.D. Joyce, president of financial advisory Joyce Wealth Management. "When there's increased focus on AI, any time AI's being discussed Nvidia's stock price is being pushed up. Is it any wonder tech is up year-to-date, when you see how much Nvidia is up?"

Yandex, the tech company often referred to as Russia's Google, has agreed to sell its Russian assets to a group of local investors for $5.2 billion, the largest corporate exit from the country since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.

Tesla shares fell after The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk had taken drugs with venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, a director of Tesla who left his firm after an internal investigation found he had slept with multiple women in the tech industry and used illegal drugs. In the same report, The Journal reported that fellow billionaire and Tesla board member Larry Ellison had invited Mr. Musk to Hawaii to dry out from drugs.


Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-05-24 1828ET