The first trading day of 2026 saw tech stocks leading the way, with Nvidia and Alphabet each advancing more than 1%. Broadcom was up over 1.5%, signaling a positive start to the year. Despite concerns about high valuations, artificial intelligence stocks like Palantir and Oracle were also higher in premarket trading.

Wall Street expects the S&P 500 to climb by roughly 11% in 2026, falling short of previous years. The outperformance of tech stocks at the start of the year indicates that the AI trade still has momentum. Investors are staying focused on tech names, with many planning to buy any dips in the market.

Read more at CNBC: Meet the 2026 stock market. It’s the same AI-reliant market of 2025