US stock index futures were little changed on Friday, pausing after a strong rally in the previous session driven by easing oil prices and lower bond yields, which buoyed risk appetite. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.61%, the S&P 500 climbed 1.14%, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.69%.
Chipmakers led the move higher, extending a rebound after earlier concerns over AI safety had raised doubts about future AI-related capital expenditures. Standout gains came from Micron (up 5.5%), Nvidia (2.5%), Intel (7.7%), AMD (6.4%), and SanDisk (6.2%).
Equities drew support from declining oil prices, which helped ease inflation concerns and fueled a broad-based rally in Treasuries. The yield on the US 10-year note retreated to around 4.93% after briefly moving above 5% earlier in the week.
Sentiment on Wall Street was further lifted by relief that the Federal Reserve delivered a widely anticipated rate hike, even as policymakers signaled that additional tightening may be needed to bring inflation back under control.
