12:29 PM EST, 01/22/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes rose after midday on Wednesday as technology and communication services topped sector charts after Netflix ( NFLX ) released blowout Q4 results and President Donald Trump unveiled a multi-billion dollar artificial intelligence infrastructure project.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.4% to 20,027.1, with the S&P 500 up 0.8% to 6,095.2 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.2% higher at 44,128.5, extending Monday's gains. Real estate and utilities led the decliners intraday.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) said late Tuesday that it partnered with OpenAI to cooperate on Stargate, a project unveiled by President Donald Trump a day after his inauguration. The Microsoft ( MSFT ) announcement comes after OpenAI said Tuesday it will be an equity funder in a new company called The Stargate Project along with Oracle (ORCL), SoftBank, and MGX with plans to "invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States."

Arm Holdings ( ARM ) is one of the technology partners in the project, OpenAI said. Shares of Arm surged 14% intraday, the second-highest return on the Nasdaq.

Of the top five performers intraday among mega-caps defined as firms with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion three were Oracle, Microsoft ( MSFT ), and Netflix ( NFLX ). The streaming giant's shares soared 11% intraday, among the top gainers on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, after it reported overnight subscriber growth and earnings that beat analysts' expectations.

In US economic news, the Conference Board's measure of leading indicators fell by 0.1% in December, as expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg, and an upwardly revised 0.4% increase in November.

Most US Treasury yields rose, with the benchmark 10-year climbing 2.7 basis points to 4.6% and the two-year rising 1.4 basis points to 4.3%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 0.2% to $75.96 a barrel intraday.