U. S.
stocks climbed Friday as technology and healthcare shares recovered from recent losses, helping Wall Street finish the week higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average led the major indexes, gaining 423.31 points, or 0.83%, to close at 51,654.95.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.59% to 7,811.54, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.64% to end at 27,366.17, according to CNBC.
Over the five-day period, the Dow increased 0.9%, the S&P 500 rose approximately 1.2%, and the Nasdaq advanced 0.6%.
Tech and Healthcare Shares Lead Recovery
Technology shares led Friday's recovery following a difficult session for artificial intelligence-related stocks.
Palo Alto Networks gained 5%, while CrowdStrike and Palantir Technologies advanced 4% and 5%, respectively.
Microsoft rose 2%, and Amazon added 3%.
Healthcare stocks also strengthened, with Merck and Gilead Sciences each climbing more than 2%.
Investor attention also turned to energy markets after President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to supply diesel to international markets, including the United States.
Trump described an initial delivery of more than 300,000 tons, followed by 500,000 tons in November and another 1 million tons immediately afterward, with a further 3 million tons dependent on the condition of Russian refineries.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled near $92 per barrel, while Brent crude futures remained above $104.
Oil prices edged lower after Trump's announcement, although supply concerns persisted amid attacks on Russian refineries and disruptions affecting Middle Eastern energy infrastructure.
SpaceX shares gained 1% after the company announced an agreement to acquire a nationwide spectrum portfolio.
Telecommunications companies moved in the opposite direction as investors assessed the potential competitive impact.
Verizon shares fell more than 9% during afternoon trading, placing the stock on track for its steepest daily decline since July 22, 2002, when it lost nearly 12%, according to CNBC.
AI Concerns and Earnings Outlook
Friday's gains followed a technology-led sell-off on Thursday, when the Nasdaq fell more than 1%, marking its largest single-day decline since mid-August.
The downturn followed CNBC's report that OpenAI told investors it had reached $50 billion in annualized revenue at the end of September.
A separate $68 billion figure circulated the previous month included gross revenue from partners, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge attributed the technology sell-off to market positioning and warned that a rapid recovery might not follow.
"The sell-off reflected extreme positioning imbalances that have further to unwind in our view, which is why the whole AI-linked tech stock complex is unlikely to simply stage a sharp, V-shaped rebound," wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.
He also identified concerns about the business models of advanced AI developers and the amount of capital flowing into the sector.
"When it comes to AI, the main issue isn't the gross vs. net issue with [annualized recurring revenue] but instead: 1) the fact that the standalone frontier labs are increasingly unattractive businesses ...
and 2) growing signs that markets are pushing back on the tidal wave of AI-linked debt and equity being thrown at them," he added.
Separately, shares of Moderna and Novavax advanced after The New York Times reported that the National Institutes of Health planned a public-private initiative to accelerate personalized cancer vaccine development.
The program was expected to begin in December, targeting pancreatic, liver, and colorectal cancers, along with certain pediatric tumors.
Moderna is already developing a personalized messenger RNA cancer vaccine with Merck.
Michael Monaghan of Founder ETFs remained constructive on equities through year-end because of anticipated corporate growth, although he warned that geopolitical tensions could undermine market performance.
"The conflict is one thing holding this market back from really reflecting how powerful the near-term earnings story is," the portfolio manager told CNBC.
Monaghan also cautioned that investors might not have fully accounted for a broader regional conflict.
"A more violent, more kinetic, more border-expanding war is not priced into the market."
Investors were preparing for a busy earnings calendar the following week, when major banks and companies including Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth were scheduled to report results on Tuesday, alongside Wells Fargo and Citigroup.
Market participants were also monitoring longer-dated Treasury yields, which reached their highest levels in 24 years during the week, and uncertainty surrounding the Middle East conflict.
