The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (NYSE: SPY) closed up +0.43% on Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (NYSE: DJIA) gained +0.98% and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (NASDAQ: QQQ) added +0.33%.
Stock indices settled higher as crude oil prices stabilized after pulling back from Thursday’s one-month high, briefly easing inflation concerns across markets.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s call to end the US-Iran war helped ease crude price pressure, with the October WTI crude oil contract settling only slightly higher on Friday.
Pezeshkian stated, “It would be better to end the war today, now that we are strong and have dignity, with the whole world acknowledging our victory.”
US Treasury Secretary Bessent said the administration would announce its plan to isolate Iran and its trading partners on Monday, with markets watching the press conference closely.
President Trump said he is not interested in extending the expired agreement with Iran, dimming prospects for a swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also stated the US naval blockade on Iranian ports is exerting pressure on the country, and that he has no timeline for resolving the conflict.
An Iranian military spokesperson said no ship can safely pass the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s authorization, calling Trump’s claims of control over the strait “nothing more than lies.”
Cryptocurrency-exposed stocks led broader market gains on Friday, with Bitcoin (^BTCUSD) surging more than +6% to a three-month high after rallying more than +20% for the week.
Institutional buying returned to support Bitcoin after the US Treasury announced it would at least double its long-dated bond buybacks, sparking a massive short-covering rally in cryptocurrencies.
According to data from Coinglass, over $2 billion in short Bitcoin positions in the perpetual futures market have been liquidated since Wednesday.
Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) closed up more than +7%, and Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) closed up more than +6%, leading gainers in the Nasdaq 100 on Friday.
Mining stocks also rallied sharply, with Southern Copper (NYSE: SCCO) closing up more than +8% and Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) gaining more than +7% as copper, gold, and silver prices surged.
Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) led Nasdaq 100 decliners, falling more than -5%, while Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), and ARM Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) each dropped more than -2%.
Utility stocks declined as the 10-year T-note yield rose +3.2 basis points to 4.736%, with Sempra (NYSE: SRE) falling more than -5% and Edison International (NYSE: EIX) dropping more than -4%.
Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) closed up more than +8% and Merck (NYSE: MRK) gained more than +2% on positive carryover from news that their combined cancer vaccine and Keytruda treatment cut melanoma recurrence in a large, late-stage trial.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) gained more than +5% after Nevada’s Transportation Authority approved up to 5,000 Tesla autonomous vehicles to provide paid passenger rides in Clark County for the first 12 months.
Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST) rose more than +4% after reporting Q2 sales of $6.26 billion, topping the consensus estimate of $6.16 billion, and raised its 2027 EPS forecast to a range of $8.61 to $8.77.
The S&P 500 is tracking for earnings growth of almost 32% in Q2, well above projections of +23%, with 86% of the 468 S&P 500 companies that have reported Q2 results beating estimates, according to Bloomberg data.
Markets are currently discounting a 39% chance of a +25 basis point rate hike at the next FOMC meeting on September 15-16, adding an additional layer of uncertainty for investors heading into next week.
