Tech stocks were higher Wednesday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) rising 1.1% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) climbing 3.5%.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index added 3%.
In corporate news, Nvidia (NVDA) Chief Executive Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump on his visit to Beijing, a last-minute addition that has raised expectations of progress in stalled talks over the company's H200 AI chip sales to China, Reuters reported. Nvidia shares gained 2.4%.
Amazon-backed (AMZN) Anthropic is in early discussions with investors to raise at least $30 billion in new funding at a valuation exceeding $900 billion, Bloomberg reported. Amazon shares rose 1.4%.
Microsoft's (MSFT) LinkedIn is cutting workers in a move that will impact a range of job functions, including engineering, product and marketing, Bloomberg reported, citing a memo from LinkedIn Chief Executive Daniel Shapero to employees. Microsoft shares were down 0.9%.