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By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta

Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq led gains among Wall Street's main indexes on Wednesday, as investors cheered streaming giant Netflix's strong quarterly performance and President Donald Trump's multi-billion dollar support to bolster AI infrastructure.

The benchmark S&P 500 was just shy of surpassing its all-time intra-day high hit in early December.

Netflix NFLX.O jumped 13.1% after reporting a record number of subscribers for the holiday quarter, enabling it to increase prices for most service plans.

Among other streaming companies, Roku ROKU.O rose 1.5%.

In a boost from Netflix, the S&P 500 communication services sector .SPLRCL gained 1.5%.

"Here is the leader (Netflix) that is becoming even more of a leader distancing itself from other competitors with key growth drivers being not only in terms of delivering content but then charging more for advertisements," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

At 9:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 76.59 points, or 0.17%, to 44,102.40, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 29.01 points, or 0.48%, to 6,078.25 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 191.37 points, or 0.97%, to 19,948.15.

Among the top movers, Oracle ORCL.N gained 5.1%, a day after Trump said the company would invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure with OpenAI and SoftBank 9984.T, even though there was no clarity on funding.

Server makers Dell DELL.N and Super Micro SMCI.O added 5.8% and 1.6%, respectively, while AI winners Microsoft MSFT.O added 2.2% and Nvidia NVDA.O rose 4%.

Three of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, with technology stocks .SPLRCT leading the gains with a 1.7% increase and an index tracking chip stocks .SOX jumped 2%.

"It'll give additional reason for investors to feel encouraged by the direction of equity prices confirming that the president is very pro-business in general and pro-tech in particular, and really wants to do whatever he can to propel U.S.-based business," Stovall said.

Data pointing to a strong economy amid cooling inflation and Trump's moderate approach to tariffs have helped risk-taking since last week, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow at their highest in over a month. Stocks have also benefited from easing Treasury yields.

However, Trump has warned that tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union could be issued on Feb. 1, a reminder for markets that risks of a potential trade war and fresh inflation pressures prevailed.

Traders expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets next week and expect it to deliver its first rate cut this year in July, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Procter & Gamble PG.N advanced 3.2% after beating second-quarter estimates, driven by growing demand for its household items in the United States.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N gave up early gains and slipped 3.5%. The drugmaker reported fourth-quarter results above estimates.

Ford F.N lost 3.3% after Barclays downgraded the stock.

Textron TXT.N fell 4% as it forecast 2025 profit below estimates.

Halliburton HAL.N slipped 3.2% after warning of softer activity in North America this year and posting downbeat quarterly revenue .

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.5-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 34 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 66 new highs and 31 new lows.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian, Purvi Agarwal and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Maju Samuel)

((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com;))