U.S. equities rose slightly on Friday as Wall Street gets set to wrap up a volatile week of trading, with a surge in Treasury yields rippling through financial markets.
The Dow Jones Industrials nicked backward 2.18 points to 51,347,86
The S&P 500 index moved lower 6.56 points to 7,697.57
The NASDAQ Composite sagged 6.81 points to 26,932.56.
Shares of Akamai Technologies led technology higher, jumping more than 14% after announcing a multiyear deal with Anthropic.
Despite the day’s gains, the Dow is heading for a fourth consecutive losing week, down 0.1%. The S&P 500 is on track for a 1% advance, while the NASDAQ is up nearly 2% week to date.
Also helping sentiment, oil prices slid amid optimism that the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened, as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has proposed to do so as well as restart nuclear talks with the U.S. within seven days if Washington accepts its conditions.
Reuters reported Thursday that the U.S. and Iranian negotiators in New York are considering a phased agreement to end the Middle East conflict.
Meanwhile, traders were monitoring Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. this week. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told the media Friday that “a lot more details” on negotiations between the U.S. and China are going to be released Monday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dropped, raising yields to 5.21% from Thursday’s 5.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost $1.27 to $93.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $15.20 to $4,312 U.S. an ounce.
