OREANDA-NEWS US stock indexes ended trading in positive territory on Wednesday, with strong growth in shares of technology companies.

Capitalization of Nvidia Corp. increased by 1.6%. A day earlier, Meta Platforms Inc. (recognized as an extremist organization in the Russian Federation and banned) announced a long-term partnership with the company, under which Nvidia will supply millions of chips for its data centers. Meta shares rose 0.6% by market close.

Papers Amazon.com Inc. increased in price by 1.8% on the information that Pershing Square, the investment company of American billionaire Bill Ackman, increased its share in it by 65%. Pershing Square acquired Amazon shares for more than $865 million in the fourth quarter, and now the value of its stake in the company exceeds $2.2 billion.

The securities of Salesforce Inc. (+1.9%), Cisco Systems Inc. (+1.7%), and International Business Machines Corp. also showed strong growth at the end of trading. (+1%).

The market value of the data storage solution provider Western Digital Corp. jumped by 4.4%. The company announced its intention to raise more than $3 billion by selling a stake in its Sandisk division to reduce debt.

Kenvue Inc.'s securities rose 2.6%. The company, which manufactures consumer medical products and over-the-counter medicines, announced its intention to lay off 3.5% of its employees ahead of the closing of its takeover deal by a larger competitor, Kimberly-Clark.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks fell by 6.8%. The developer of cybersecurity solutions increased its net profit by 62% in the second quarter, while its revenue did not meet market expectations.

The report of the US Department of Commerce, published on Wednesday, showed an increase in the number of new buildings in the country in December by 6.2% compared to the previous month, to 1,404 million in annual terms. In November, the number of new buildings amounted to 1.322 million. The US Department of Commerce released data for two months at once, as the publication of November market statistics was delayed due to the shutdown.

The volume of industrial production in the United States increased by 0.7% in January compared with the previous month, the Federal Reserve System (FRS) reported. The consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Trading Economics suggested an increase of 0.4%. In December, according to the revised data, industrial production increased by 0.2%, not by 0.4%, as previously reported.

This week, traders are also waiting for the release of preliminary data on the dynamics of US GDP for the fourth quarter and a report on Americans' income and expenses for December, including a key inflation indicator monitored by the Fed.

The minutes of the January meeting of the US Central Bank, also released on Wednesday, showed that the Fed's leaders do not intend to rush to further ease monetary policy. Most participants in the meeting made it clear that they would like to see progress in slowing inflation before considering further cuts in the base interest rate.

"Most participants noted that progress towards the 2% inflation target may be slower and more uneven than expected, and considered the risk of sustained inflation above the target significant," the minutes of the meeting say.

According to market data at the close on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.26% to 49,662.66 points.

The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.56% to 6,881.31 points.

The Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.78% to 22,753.63 points.