As the rally accelerates, Microsoft joins Apple's $2 trillion club

The market value of Microsoft Corp. is set to close above $2 trillion for the first time in nearly six months after a rally in shares.

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Early Wednesday, Microsoft rose as much as 3.4% to $276.76, joining Apple Inc. as the only stock with market capitalizations above $2 trillion. This is the first time the stock has surpassed that level since August when it rallied 29% from its November low. It is estimated that Apple has a market value of $2.44 trillion. 

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Artificial intelligence has drawn widespread investor interest recently, causing the stock to rise. A wildly popular chatbot owned by OpenAI was announcing last month that Microsoft is stepping up its investment in it. During an event on Feb. 7, the company unveiled a ChatGPT-powered version of its Bing online search engine.

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This year, the stock has gained 15%, compared to a gain of 16% for the Nasdaq 100. An AI-focused chipmaker, Nvidia Corp., has soared 55% since AI interest gained traction. This year, Apple has gained 19%. 

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According to Microsoft, quarterly results in January were mixed, with cloud and business software sales slowing.

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Furthermore, the UK's antitrust watchdog is provisionally determining that acquiring Activision Blizzard Inc. for $69 billion will harm competition in the gaming industry.