U.S. Stocks Close Higher Again; Nasdaq Rises 1.3 P.c.

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks closed on a firm note on Wednesday as investors reacted positively to some upbeat earnings updates and corporate news, and on continued optimism about a few interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

Worries about tariff threats lingered but investors largely shrugged off concerns and kept picking up stocks.

The major averages all closed on a strong note, with the tech-laden Nasdaq recording a more pronounced gain thanks to buoyant earnings and sales guidance by Netflix, and Trump's AI initiative.

The Dow closed up 130.92 points or 0.3 percent, at 44,156.73. The S&P 500 gained 37.13 points or 0.61 percent, settling at 6,086.37, while the Nasdaq climbed 252.56 points or 1.28 percent, to 20,009.34.

Trump's announcement of a $500 billion private-sector AI infrastructure investment plan from a venture involving Oracle, Open AI and Softbank set the stage for tech stocks's strong performance.

Oracle Corp shares surged nearly 7 percent, NVIDIA climbed about 4.2 percent, Microsoft gained nearly 4 percent and Meta Platforms closed up by about 2.7 percent.

Netflix soared nearly 10 percent, after the company reported an addition of 19 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, the biggest ever subscriber gains in any quarter. Netflix's bottom line came in at $1.869 billion, or $4.27 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with $938 million, or $2.11 per share, last year.

Among other prominent gainers in the session, Amazon, Eli Lilly, Procter & Gamble, Salesforce, Cisco Systems, American Express, Analog Devices and Nike advanced 1 to 2 percent.

Pfizer, Booking Holdings, Morgan Stanley, Merck, Chevron Corporation, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, Tesla and Exxon Mobil Corporation closed notably lower.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, with Chinese and Hong Kong markets falling sharply after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on the EU and China to address trade imbalances and combat fentanyl trafficking.

European stocks closed broadly higher on Wednesday, and several markets in the region posted record highs, reacting to some upbeat earnings updates and on optimism about interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and a few other central banks, including the ECB, this year.