Editor’s note: This article was updated to correct company name in the headline.
U.S. stocks traded mixed but mostly higher at midday Friday as crude oil retreated on hopes for an Iran-brokered reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, even as Treasury yields pushed toward their highest level since 2007 after this week’s Trump-Xi trade summit.
Washington and Beijing extended their trade truce without announcing new tariffs.
- Meanwhile, Tehran’s offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days comes with conditions Washington has not yet confirmed it will meet. That was enough to pull crude off its highs and support risk appetite early on, although momentum cooled into midday trading as the fine print on both the Iran offer and the China trade truce remained unresolved.
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6% to $93.06 a barrel by midday.
- The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up 2 basis points to 5.22%, hovering near its highest level since 2007 after this week’s climb. The 2-year yield eased to 4.90%, while the 30-year rose to 5.53%.
- The S&P 500 added 4.47 points, or 0.1%, to 7,708.60, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 125.67 points, or 0.2%, to 51,475.65.
- The Nasdaq 100 slipped 19.04 points, or 0.1%, to 30,459.82. Within Magnificent Seven stocks, Meta Platforms Inc.
META rose roughly 4% as analysts lifted price targets on enthusiasm for its newly launched Muse AI agent, while the rest of the mega-cap cohort traded in a narrow range.
- The Russell 2000 lagged, down 7.74 points, or 0.3%, to 2,827.83.
Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices
| Index | Last | % Change | MTD | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,708.60 | +0.06% | +0.43% | +16.03% |
| Dow Jones | 51,475.65 | +0.24% | -3.72% | +11.31% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 30,459.82 | -0.06% | +4.23% | +24.31% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,827.83 | -0.27% | -5.92% | +16.17% |
According to the Benzinga Pro platform:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF www.benzinga.com/quote/VOO(NYSE:VOO) edged up 0.1%.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust www.benzinga.com/quote/DIA(NYSE:DIA) rose 0.2%.
- The Invesco QQQ Trust
QQQ slipped 0.1%.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF https://www.benzinga.com/quote/IWM(NYSE:IWM) declined 0.3%.
Akamai’s Anthropic Megadeal Headlines A Choppy, Yield-Driven Session
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund https://www.benzinga.com/quote/XLY(NYSE:XLY) rose 0.4% even as Nike weighed on the group, with strength elsewhere in consumer names offsetting the drag.
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund https://www.benzinga.com/quote/XLC(NYSE:XLC) also outperformed, lifted by Meta’s gain.
Cloud-infrastructure and AI-data-center names were the session’s most volatile corner of the market following Akamai’s blockbuster deal with Anthropic.
Akamai Technologies Inc. AKAM surged as much as 15% intraday after Anthropic committed to an $11.6 billion, seven-year cloud-infrastructure deal, though shares pared part of the gain as investors weighed the roughly $5.5 billion in capital expenditures Akamai will front ahead of that revenue.
The deal also lifted infrastructure peers CoreWeave Inc. CRWV, up 3.7% on sympathy buying, and Cloudflare Inc.
NET, up 1.8%.
Dell Technologies Inc. DELL climbed 5.0% as it rebounded from Thursday’s selloff, after Oracle Corp.
ORCL said its delayed New Mexico data-center project “remains on our planned schedule,” easing fears that the slippage would disrupt Dell’s server and AI-rack shipments to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
Meta’s roughly 4% gain came from the same story pressuring one of the session’s biggest losers: Twilio Inc. TWLO slid 5.9% after HSBC downgraded the stock to Reduce, arguing the market’s “Muse rally has gone too far” amid doubts about near-term AI monetization for communications-software names.
On the Downside
Zscaler Inc. ZS tumbled 8.7%, even after beating fiscal fourth-quarter estimates — adjusted EPS of $1.19 versus $1.08 expected, revenue of $898.2 million versus $877.4 million expected — and guiding fiscal 2027 EPS and revenue above consensus.
GameStop Corp. GME fell 8% despite CEO Ryan Cohen‘s $26 million insider stock purchase disclosed earlier in the week. With no fresh negative catalyst in the tape, the move looks like profit-taking after the stock’s roughly 29% rally over the past month.
The Mosaic Company MOS declined 3.9% on no confirmed catalyst, with shares continuing to swing alongside broader volatility in potash and fertilizer markets this week.
Nike Inc. NKE declined 2% to $35.18 after Bank of America downgraded the stock to Underperform and cut its price target to $30, citing a turnaround now pushed out roughly 12 months by weak North America wholesale trends, China demand softness and elevated inventory.
Peers Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. DKS rose 2% and On Holding AG
ONON was little changed, a sign Nike’s troubles remain brand-specific rather than category-wide.
Friday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| Akamai Technologies | +15.0% |
| Dell Technologies | +5.0% |
| Meta Platforms | +4.0% |
| CoreWeave | +3.7% |
| Cloudflare | +1.8% |
Friday’s Russell 1000 Top Losers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| Zscaler | -8.7% |
| GameStop | -8.0% |
| Twilio | -5.9% |
| The Mosaic Company | -3.9% |
| Nike | -2.0% |
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