Nasdaq leads Wall St higher helped by Netflix results, Trump’s AI investment plans
By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta
() – The Nasdaq led gains among Wall Street’s main indexes on Wednesday, as investors cheered streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:)’s strong quarterly performance and President Donald Trump’s multi-billion dollar support to bolster AI infrastructure.
The benchmark was just shy of surpassing its all-time intra-day high hit in early December.
Netflix jumped 13.1% after reporting a record number of subscribers for the holiday quarter, enabling it to increase prices for most service plans.
Among other streaming companies, Roku (NASDAQ:) rose 1.5%.
In a boost from Netflix, the S&P 500 communication services sector gained 1.5%.
“Here is the leader (Netflix) that is becoming even more of a leader distancing itself from other competitors with key growth drivers being not only in terms of delivering content but then charging more for advertisements,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
At 9:40 a.m. ET, the rose 76.59 points, or 0.17%, to 44,102.40, the S&P 500 gained 29.01 points, or 0.48%, to 6,078.25 and the gained 191.37 points, or 0.97%, to 19,948.15.
Among the top movers, Oracle (NYSE:) gained 5.1%, a day after Trump said the company would invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure with OpenAI and SoftBank (TYO:), even though there was no clarity on funding.
Server makers Dell (NYSE:) and Super Micro added 5.8% and 1.6%, respectively, while AI winners Microsoft (NASDAQ:) added 2.2% and Nvidia (NASDAQ:) rose 4%.
Three of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, with technology stocks leading the gains with a 1.7% increase and an index tracking chip stocks jumped 2%.
“It’ll give additional reason for investors to feel encouraged by the direction of equity prices confirming that the president is very pro-business in general and pro-tech in particular, and really wants to do whatever he can to propel U.S.-based business,” Stovall said.
Data pointing to a strong economy amid cooling inflation and Trump’s moderate approach to tariffs have helped risk-taking since last week, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow at their highest in over a month. Stocks have also benefited from easing Treasury yields.
However, Trump has warned that tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union could be issued on Feb. 1, a reminder for markets that risks of a potential trade war and fresh inflation pressures prevailed.
Traders expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets next week and expect it to deliver its first rate cut this year in July, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:) advanced 3.2% after beating second-quarter estimates, driven by growing demand for its household items in the United States.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) gave up early gains and slipped 3.5%. The drugmaker reported fourth-quarter results above estimates.
Ford (NYSE:) lost 3.3% after Barclays (LON:) downgraded the stock.
Textron (NYSE:) fell 4% as it forecast 2025 profit below estimates.
Halliburton (NYSE:) slipped 3.2% after warning of softer activity in North America this year and posting downbeat quarterly revenue.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.5-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 34 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 66 new highs and 31 new lows.