CNBC reports: On Friday, the Nasdaq wrapped up the first six months of the year with a 1.5% rally, bringing its gains so far for 2023 to 32%. That's the sharpest first-half jump in the tech-heavy index since 1983, when the Nasdaq rose 37%... [M]omentum is always a driver when it comes to tech, and investors are notoriously fearful of missing out, even if they simultaneously worry about frothy valuations. Coming off a miserable 2022, in which the Nasdaq lost one-third of its value, the big story was cost-cutting and efficiency. Mass layoffs at Alphabet, Meta and Amazon as well as at numerous smaller companies paved the way for a rebound in earnings and a more realistic outlook for growth. Meta and Tesla, which both got hammered last year, have more than doubled in value so far in 2023. Alphabet is up 36% after dropping 39% in 2022... Nvidia shares soared 190% in the first half, lifting the 30-year-old company's market cap past $1 trillion. "I think you're going to continue to see tech dominate because we're still all abuzz about AI," said Bryn Talkington, managing partner at Requisite Capital Management, in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Thursday. Talkington, whose firm holds Nvidia shares, said the chipmaker has a unique story, and that its growth is not shared across the industry. Rather, large companies working on AI have to spend heavily on Nvidia's technology. "Nvidia not only owns the shovels and axes of this AI goldrush," Talkington said. "They actually are the only hardware store in town." Apple hasn't seen gains quite so dramatic, but the stock is still up 50% this year, trading at a record and pushing the iPhone maker to a $3 trillion market cap. The article points out that the last time Nasdaq stocks had a better first-half of the year, "Apple was touting its Lisa desktop computer, IBM was the most-valuable tech company in the U.S. and Mark Zuckerberg hadn't been born."

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