Futures linked to the DOW JONES rose a slight 0.32% to 44,170 points, while those of the S&P 500 advanced 0.54% to 6,082 points. NASDAQ 100 futures rose 0.96% to 21,774 points.
Wall Street is coming off a winning session. The Dow rose more than 500 points on Tuesday, closing up 1.24%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively, with the former returning above 6,000 points.
Those moves come after President Donald Trump’s first statements on trade policy calmed investors who feared a harsher tone. However, the president insists that he is considering 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada. He has also mentioned a tax on imports from China, but without authorizing new tariffs.
Data pointing to a strong economy as core inflation cools, coupled with Trump’s more moderate approach to tariffs, has helped risk-taking on Wall Street since last week, with the S&P 500 once again exceeding 6,000 points and approaching less than 1% of its historical highs.
Easing Treasury yields have also encouraged risk-taking in stocks. Today the US ten-year bond pays 4.568% in the secondary market, very far from the levels above 4.8% just a few weeks ago.
Today the main protagonist of the stock market is Netflix, which skyrocketed 14.3% in the pre-opening after presenting results that show that the streaming company has surpassed the barrier of 300 million subscribers (301.63 million), with a record sum of 19 million. The market had expected a figure of 290.9 million.
The company reported earnings of $4.27 per share, compared to the expected $4.20. Revenue reached $10.25 billion, compared to the expected $10.11 billion. For the entire year 2025, Netflix raises its revenue expectations to a range of between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion, around $500 million more than its previous forecast.
Among the stocks that are advancing the most is Oracle, which advances 7.8% after Trump announced that the company would make an investment of $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure with OpenAI and SoftBank, in a joint venture called Stargate. However, there was no clarity on financing.
Server makers including Dell and Super Micro are up 3.5% and 3% respectively, while AI leaders such as Microsoft and NVIDIA are also advancing.
NVIDIA has also overtaken Apple as the most valuable company in the world by market capitalization after the falls recorded yesterday by the iPhone manufacturer after a recommendation cut by Jefferies.
United Airlines shares rise more than 3% after the airline’s fourth-quarter results came in better than expected. The airline operator last night posted adjusted earnings of $3.26 per share on revenue of $14.7 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $3.00 per share and revenue of $14.47 billion. The company also issued a strong forecast for first-quarter earnings.
On Wednesday, Procter&Gamble presented its accounts, which beat market expectations with earnings per share of $1.88compared to the expected $1.86. On the revenue side, the consumer giant behind brands like Ariel or Fairy saw an increase of 2% to 21.88 billion, above the expected 21.54 billion.
It has also reiterated its forecasts for 2025, which call for net earnings per share of between $6.91 and $7.05 and revenue growth of between 2% and 4%. P&G shares rise 3.25% in pre-market trading.
Increases of more than 2% for Johnson&Johnson. The pharmaceutical giant has reported some adjusted earnings of $2.04 per share on income of 22,520 million. Analysts had predicted $2.01 per share and revenue of $22.42 billion. The company expects its earnings for the year to be between $10.50 and $10.70, compared to a median analyst consensus estimate of $10.53.
As of yesterday’s close, with 52 S&P 500 companies having published their quarterly results, the average increase in earnings per share is +7.9%, compared to the +7.5% expected before the first company’s publication, according to data collected by Bankinter. 86.5% of companies beat results, 13.5% disappoint. In the last quarter (Q3 2024) EPS increased +9.1%, compared to the +5.1% initially expected.
In raw materials markets, oil prices are rising taking advantage of today’s declines in the dollar, and while traders closely follow US inventories, the tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump and the possible impact of the national energy emergency that he declared in his first day in office. European benchmark Brent oil rose 0.24% to $79.48, while US West Texas futures rose 0.30% to $76.06.
He dollar is at two-week lows given the lack of clarity of Trump’s tariff plans. The dollar index, which compares the U.S. currency against six major currencies, fell 0.1% to 108 on Wednesday, not far from the two-week low of 107.86 hit on Tuesday. The euro rises 0.13% against its US pair, leaving the exchange rate at 1.0442 dollars for each single currency.