U.S. stocks are drifting higher as Wall Street’s superstar, Nvidia, steams toward another record. The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in early trading Tuesday. The index is on track for a third straight gain following a five-day swoon that bridged the new year.

Jensen Huang is the CEO of Nvidia ( NVDA 3.70%), a company whose chips power the vast majority of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. At a technology conference last year, Huang made a bold declaration: "The next wave of AI is here. Robotics, powered by physical AI, will revolutionize industries."

Good news on the U.S. economy is back to being bad for Wall Street. The S&P 500 swung to a loss of 1.1% after a pair of reports on the