STORY: The Nasdaq crossed 17,000 for the first time ever on Tuesday, boosted by gains in Nvidia.

The Dow shed more than half a percent, the S&P 500 ticked up marginally and the Nasdaq added nearly six-tenths of a percent.

AI chip leader Nvidia gained nearly 7% to close at another record high, boosting shares of other chip stocks as traders returned from a holiday-extended weekend.

Kevin Mahn is president and chief investment officer at Hennion & Walsh Asset Management.

"What I found most interesting from their earnings report last week wasn't necessarily just the growth in their chips platform, wasn't necessarily their forecast with respect to their next generation chip platform - that, of course, being Blackwell - but rather the growth of their data center business, up 400% year-over-year revenue growth as it relates to data centers. That's where the puck is going right now. That's where the investment dollars are heading. And that's what Nvidia is capitalizing upon."

Apple shares rose early in the session after data showed iPhone sales in China surged 52% in April from a year earlier. But the stock pared gains late and closed nearly flat.

Shares of marketing software maker HubSpot gained more than 8% after CNBC reported Alphabet is in talks to make an all-stock bid for the company, following a Reuters report last month that the Google parent was exploring an offer.

Hess shareholders approved a $53 billion merger with Chevron, sending the latter's shares up just under 1%. Hess shares closed up just shy of half a percent.

And shares of original meme stock GameStop shot up more than 25%. Late on Friday, the videogame retailer said it had raised $933 million by selling 45 million shares.