Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Stock Market Today: Netflix and AI Excitement Have Wall Street Near All-Time High
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 months ago on
January 22, 2025

The Fearless Girl statue, with a flower draped on the shoulder, stands outside the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 23, 2024. (AP File)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NEW YORK — Netflix, Oracle and other technology stocks are lifting U.S. indexes Wednesday as their profits pile higher and excitement builds around the moneymaking prospects of artificial intelligence.

The S&P 500 was up 0.7% in afternoon trading and on track to surpass its all-time high set early last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 105 points, or 0.2%, as of 2:03 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher.

Netflix helped lead the way after it said live events like football games and a Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight helped it add nearly 19 million subscribers during the latest quarter. It also reported stronger profit than analysts expected and said it’s raising subscription prices in the United States and other countries. Netflix jumped 9.9%.

The streaming giant joined a lengthening list of companies that have topped analysts’ profit expectations for the end of 2024. Such results support their stock prices and counteract the downward push they’ve felt from rising Treasury yields in the bond market.

The rising yields, which were caused in part by worries about stubborn inflation and the U.S. government’s swelling debt, had knocked down stocks and halted their record-breaking run that carried through 2024, at least briefly.

Procter & Gamble Rose 2.5% and Travelers Climbed 3.6%

Procter & Gamble rose 2.5% after the company behind Charmin, Crest and Pampers reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. It also said it’s sticking with its financial forecasts for the full fiscal year, even though rising commodity costs and the stronger value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies are hurting its results.

Travelers climbed 3.6% after likewise topping analysts’ expectations for profit. The insurer said gains for its investments and growth in net written premiums helped it overcome losses created by Hurricane Milton, which plowed into Florida’s Gulf coast in October, and other catastrophes.

Some of the market’s most forceful pushes upward came from AI-related companies. Oracle climbed 7.4% to add to its 7.2% rise the day before, ahead of the expected announcement that came late Tuesday about Stargate, a joint venture the White House said will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of AI in Texas.

AI Related Stocks Continue to Rise

The partnership formed by Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank will invest up to $500 billion. SoftBank Group Corp.’s stock in Tokyo rose 10.6%.

Other AI-related stocks also climbed, furthering their already fantastic run. Nvidia, the company whose chips are powering much of the move into AI, rose 4.7%. Its stock is above $146 after sitting below $18 just two years ago.

They helped offset a 3.9% drop for Textron. It reported a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but its revenue fell short of forecasts. The company behind Bell helicopters and Cessna airplanes also gave a forecast for profit for this upcoming year that fell short of some analysts’ expectations.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.60% from 4.57% late Tuesday. It had been largely regressing since an encouraging update on inflation last week, but it’s still well above where it was in September, when it was below 3.65%.

Strategists at BlackRock Investment Institute say they expect rates to stay higher for longer for a wide range of reasons, including an aging workforce and very high levels of debt for the U.S. government.

“Investors are demanding more compensation for the risk of holding long-term bonds, driving the term premium to a decade high,” according to the strategists led by Jean Boivin.

For stocks to remain resilient and keep rising despite the bite of high interest rates, companies will need to keep delivering solid profit growth, and Boivin said he sees encouraging signals.

In the cryptocurrency market, which has surged amid hopes that President Donald Trump will make Washington friendlier to the industry, bitcoin was below $105,000. It had set a record record above $109,000 on Monday. Some sourness is lingering after Trump and his wife launched meme coins, which critics said looked like an unseemly cash grab.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

DON'T MISS

Chevron Announces First Oil at Ballymore Project in US Gulf

DON'T MISS

Fresno Barbershop Shooting Leaves Man Dead, Two Others Injured

DON'T MISS

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

DON'T MISS

White House Denies Report It Is Searching for New Defense Secretary

DON'T MISS

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Satbir Singh

DON'T MISS

Steeply Discounted OD-Reversal Medicine Now Available to Any Californian

DON'T MISS

Merced College Breaks Ground on $21 Million Center Geared for Tomorrow’s Ag Jobs

DON'T MISS

Delta Plane Suffers Engine Fire in Orlando, Forcing Evacuation

UP NEXT

Chevron Announces First Oil at Ballymore Project in US Gulf

UP NEXT

Fresno Barbershop Shooting Leaves Man Dead, Two Others Injured

UP NEXT

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

UP NEXT

White House Denies Report It Is Searching for New Defense Secretary

UP NEXT

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Satbir Singh

UP NEXT

Steeply Discounted OD-Reversal Medicine Now Available to Any Californian

UP NEXT

Merced College Breaks Ground on $21 Million Center Geared for Tomorrow’s Ag Jobs

UP NEXT

Delta Plane Suffers Engine Fire in Orlando, Forcing Evacuation

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest 11 for DUI During Weekend Enforcement

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

2 hours ago

White House Denies Report It Is Searching for New Defense Secretary

2 hours ago

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

2 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Satbir Singh

3 hours ago

Steeply Discounted OD-Reversal Medicine Now Available to Any Californian

3 hours ago

Merced College Breaks Ground on $21 Million Center Geared for Tomorrow’s Ag Jobs

3 hours ago

Delta Plane Suffers Engine Fire in Orlando, Forcing Evacuation

3 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest 11 for DUI During Weekend Enforcement

3 hours ago

Reddit Down for Thousands of Users Worldwide

4 hours ago

Israeli Minister Says Freeing Hostages Not ‘Most Important’ Aim of the War

4 hours ago

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

(Reuters) – The gunman who killed 23 people and injured 22 others in a 2019 mass shooting aimed at Latinos at a Texas Walmart pleaded ...

16 minutes ago

El Paso Walmart mass shooter Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old male from Allen, Texas, accused of killing 22 and injuring 25, is arraigned, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. October 10, 2019. (Mark Lambie/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)
16 minutes ago

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Austin, Texas, U.S., October 23, 2023. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
1 hour ago

Chevron Announces First Oil at Ballymore Project in US Gulf

Jampier Quintero, 44, was killed and two others were injured in a shooting Saturday at a Fresno barbershop, with police still searching for suspects. (Fresno PD)
1 hour ago

Fresno Barbershop Shooting Leaves Man Dead, Two Others Injured

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets U.S. Vice President JD Vance at his residence in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2025. India's Press Information (Bureau/Handout via REUTERS)
2 hours ago

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

A view of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 20, 2024. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/File Photo)
2 hours ago

White House Denies Report It Is Searching for New Defense Secretary

Israeli Security Agency director Ronen Bar attends a memorial ceremony of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)
2 hours ago

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

Satbir Singh is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for April 21, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Satbir Singh

3 hours ago

Steeply Discounted OD-Reversal Medicine Now Available to Any Californian

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend