Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 25, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
U.S. equities rose on Friday as Wall Street wrapped up a volatile week of trading, with a surge in Treasury yields rippling through financial markets.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.51% to close at 7,743.41, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5% to 27,068.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 478.64 points, or 0.93% to end at 51,828.62.
Akamai Technologies was a key winner of the session, rising 3% after announcing a multiyear deal with Anthropic.
Also helping sentiment, oil prices slid amid optimism that the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened, as Iran has asked the U.S. to return to the memorandum of understanding from June that failed to end the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 2.33% to settle at $92.41 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude futures declined 2.14% to $104.32 a barrel.
With the day’s gains, the Dow notched a winning week, up 0.3%. The S&P 500 added 1.2%, while the Nasdaq rose 2%.
That advance was bolstered by technology stocks such as Meta Platforms, which popped nearly 13% on the week amid excitement surrounding its artificial intelligence agent Muse. Information technology rose 3.1%, which was the most of any of the S&P 500’s sectors.
The drama continued in the bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2007, while the 30-year yield reached its highest level since 2004. The two were last seen up slightly at 5.163% and 5.488%, respectively.
This week’s ascent in yields was fueled by hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr, persistently high energy prices due to the Iran war, and a hot purchasing managers’ report. Fed funds futures trading suggests a roughly 64% likelihood of a rate hike in October, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Eric Diton, president of The Wealth Alliance, noted that investor sentiment has been weakening as bond yields have been rising, with bearish sentiment seeing a “sharp” increase from just two weeks earlier. That said, he believes the market has been “incredibly resilient” in the face of the developments, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq roughly 1% below their recent highs.
“Should rates continue to climb, they should have a larger impact on market performance at some point in the future,” he cautioned.
Meanwhile, traders were monitoring Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. this week. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC Friday that “a lot more details” on negotiations between the U.S. and China are going to be released Monday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier in the week that the two countries have agreed to extend their trade truce by two months.
