On Wall Street, both the Dow and S&P 500 rose, while the Nasdaq retreated again, with semiconductor shares enduring another round of selling.
Angelo Kourkafas of Edward Jones described markets as buffeted by uncertainty over unpredictable geopolitical events and questions about how the Federal Reserve will weigh the latest jump in oil prices.
At the same time, “the bar is set high and there is also some skepticism about the sustainability” of this week’s lofty corporate earnings, Kourkafas said.
David Morrison at Trade Nation said expectations that the US Federal Reserve could hike interest rates at its meeting next week have risen from 13 per cent last week to 30 per cent currently.
“Perhaps more seriously, the CME’s FedWatch Tool shows a 90 per cent probability of at least one 25-basis point rate hike before year-end,” he said.
Besides the Fed, next week’s schedule includes another heavy calendar of quarterly results featuring tech giants such as Amazon and Apple, as well as major industrial players including Boeing and Ford.
With tech stocks not as predominant in Europe, that region’s main stock markets advanced on Friday.
Asian stock markets followed the sell-off Thursday on Wall Street as world markets were battered by a perfect storm of the resurgent Middle East war, the spike in oil prices and concerns about the artificial intelligence boom.