The three main indexes on Wall Street ended mixed. Alphabet rose for a second day after overtaking Apple the previous day to become the No. 2 company by market value, moving closer to a $4 trillion market capitalisation.

On Jan. 8, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 270.03 points, or 0.55 percent, to close at 49,266.11 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The S&P 500 gained 0.53 points, or 0.01 percent, to end at 6,921.46. The Nasdaq Composite fell 104.26 points, or 0.44 percent, to 23,480.02.

A trend emerged of net selling in AI and semiconductor-related stocks that had recently surged, with investors rotating into blue chips and cyclical stocks.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1.83 percent. Among stocks in the index with market capitalisations above $100 billion, all fell except three stocks including Qualcomm.

Nvidia fell 2.17 percent. Broadcom, ASML, Micron Technology, AMD, Applied Materials, Intel and KLA slid about 3 percent.

Since the start of the year, semiconductor stocks have climbed strongly, led by Micron. Buying concentrated in related stocks on news that demand for memory semiconductors is surging. But semiconductor shares have been undergoing a correction since the previous day on concerns about short-term overheating.

Alphabet, which overtook Apple the previous day to become the No. 2 company by market value on Wall Street, rose 1 percent and widened the gap with Apple. Its market value stood at $3.93 trillion, nearing $4 trillion. Apple and Microsoft, which were overtaken by Alphabet, fell about 1 percent again.

Defense stocks that are expected to benefit jumped after U.S. President Donald Trump argued that defense spending this year should be increased to as much as $1.5 trillion.

Lockheed Martin rose 4.34 percent, while RTX gained 0.78 percent and General Dynamics rose 1.68 percent.

The market is now focusing on the December nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday. It is expected to be one of the first reliable key indicators released since the longest shutdown in U.S. federal government history.