U.S. stocks closed higher across all three major indexes, with each also notching a weekly gain. Even as a bond market selloff pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to its highest level since the financial crisis, the market still showed resilience. At the same time, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to a four-month low, with high oil prices and tariff concerns continuing to weigh on sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 478.64 points, or 0.93%, to 51,828.62, up 0.28% for the week; the S&P 500 gained 39.28 points, or 0.51%, to 7,743.41, up 1.22% for the week; and the Nasdaq added 129.34 points, or 0.48%, to 27,068.71, up 2.06% for the week.
The Magnificent Seven stocks ended mixed. Microsoft (MSFT) climbed more than 3% to its highest close since last November. Apple (AAPL) rose more than 1% to another record closing high, with its total market value approaching $5 trillion. NVIDIA (NVDA), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) posted modest gains, while Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) fell more than 3%, though the stock surged nearly 13% for the week on excitement over its AI agent Muse. Tesla Motors (TSLA) dropped more than 1%.
Memory chip stocks rose broadly. Qualcomm (QCOM) gained about 4%, SK Hynix advanced more than 2%, and Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate Technology PLC (STX) each rose more than 1%, while SanDisk also added over 1%. Bloom Energy Corp (BE) jumped more than 8% to its highest close since June.
The information technology sector rose 3.1%, the biggest gainer among S&P 500 sectors. Akamai Technologies narrowed its advance to less than 4% after announcing a multi-year agreement with Anthropic. Also lifting market sentiment was a decline in oil prices, driven by optimism that the Strait of Hormuz could reopen. Iran has asked the United States to return to the June memorandum of understanding.
At the close, light sweet crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $2.20 to settle at $92.41 a barrel, down 2.33%; London Brent crude for November delivery dropped $2.28 to settle at $104.32 a barrel, down 2.14%.
The U.S. bond market continued its dramatic moves, with the 10-year Treasury yield rising to its highest level since 2007 and the 30-year Treasury yield touching its highest since 2004. The two latest stood slightly higher at 5.163% and 5.488%, respectively. Factors driving this week's rise in yields included hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr, persistently high energy prices caused by the Iran war, and a red-hot purchasing managers report. According to the CME FedWatch tool, federal funds futures trading shows about a 64% probability of a rate hike in October.
Eric Diton, president of The Wealth Alliance, noted that investor sentiment has been weakening as bond yields rise, with bearish sentiment rising "sharply" from two weeks ago. Still, he believes the market has been "extremely resilient" in the face of these developments, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq only about 1% below their recent highs. "If rates keep climbing, at some point they will have a bigger impact on market performance," he warned.
The final September reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to a four-month low, with high oil prices and tariff concerns the issues consumers cared about most.
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