US stocks ended mixed on Friday, largely holding onto this week’s strong gains amid signs of easing geopolitical tensions. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rose as much as 0.5%, putting both indexes on track for an eighth consecutive advance.
President Trump said he was optimistic about progress with Iran ahead of official talks this weekend. At the same time, indications that tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is normalizing have helped ease recent concerns over an energy-driven inflation shock to the global economy—fears that have weighed on equities since early March.
Higher energy prices pushed US inflation to its highest level in nearly two years in March, but oil and gas costs are expected to retreat if crude flows from the Persian Gulf continue to stabilize.
Improved risk appetite supported speculative technology names: Amazon and Meta each gained about 2%, while Nvidia advanced nearly 1%, buoyed by strong results from TSMC. In contrast, financial stocks edged lower ahead of next week’s earnings reports, keeping the Dow slightly below the flatline.
