Nvidia leads semiconductors higher as broad-based rally ignites sector

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Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares rose more than 6% on Tuesday, leading the semiconductor industry higher amid a broad-based rally on Wall Street.

There appeared to be little news responsible for the rally, but several chip stocks, including Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Analog Devices (ADI) rose more than 3% in mid-day trading.

The broader indices also saw sharp gains, led by a near 3% gain in the NASDAQ.

Several Wall Street firms pointed out that Apple (AAPL) iPhone shipments increased significantly in May, with investment firm UBS noting positive read throughs for Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) and Qorvo (QRVO), both of which are Apple suppliers.

Skyworks (SWKS) and Qorvo (QRVO) gained nearly 3% and 1.5%, respectively.

Micron Technology (MU) shares gained more than 2% after Goldman Sachs maintained its buy rating on the firm, despite headwinds for both the NAND and DRAM markets, both of which Micron is heavily exposed to.

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Intel (INTC) and Broadcom (AVGO) saw more modest gains than their aforementioned, rising slightly more than 1% each.

Investment firm Baird cut its earnings estimates on Intel (INTC), citing the possibility for PC order cuts for the second half of the year.

Separately on Tuesday, investment firm Futurum Research argued that both Microsoft (MSFT) and NVIDIA (NVDA) presented long-term buying opportunities at current levels, given their exposure to high-growth segments of the technology sector.