All three major US stock indexes were higher around midday Wednesday, with the S&P 500 touching a record high and the tech-heavy Nasdaq up more than 1% after President Trump's administration committed to making the US a leader in artificial intelligence.
Trump announced the $500 billion "Stargate" initiative to build up US AI capacity involving Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL) and SoftBank. OpenAI said Microsoft as well as Arm (ARM), Nvidia (NVDA), Oracle, and OpenAI are the "key initial technology partners" of Stargate.
Shares of Microsoft rose 3.7%, Arm advanced 15%, Nvidia added 4.2% and Oracle gained 7.1% in recent Wednesday trading.
In earnings news, Netflix (NFLX) shares jumped past 11% around midday Wednesday, a day after the streaming giant reported subscriber growth and earnings that topped expectations by analysts. In Q4, Netflix added 18.9 million subscribers worldwide, almost double market estimates. Revenue also topped market expectations.
Procter & Gamble (PG) shares rose 2.7% after it reported higher fiscal Q2 core earnings and net sales.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) shares fell 3.6% after it reported lower adjusted earnings and higher sales for fiscal Q4.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) shares were up 2.7% after it reported higher Q4 adjusted earnings and net sales.
Price: 444.15, Change: +15.65, Percent Change: +3.65
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