01:29 PM EDT, 10/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Tech stocks were higher Wednesday afternoon, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) up 0.8% and the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) rising 1.3%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index climbed 1.6%.

In corporate news, Alphabet's (GOOG) unit Waymo is offering tests of its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas. Separately, Alphabet's Google ( GOOG ) is developing artificial intelligence software with capabilities similar to OpenAI's o1, which is described as having human-like reasoning abilities, Bloomberg reported. Alphabet shares were shedding 0.9%.