Dow Extends Weekly Gains Today as Chip Stocks Rally and SK Hynix's Blockbuster IPO Debuts on Wall Street
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks extended their weekly gains Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing to 52,616.63, up 129.22 points, or 0.25 percent, as renewed strength in semiconductor stocks and easing oil prices helped markets shrug off continued tension between the United States and Iran.
The gains capped a volatile but ultimately resilient week for equities. The Dow rose 139.02 points, or 0.27 percent, Thursday to close at 52,487.41, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.30 percent to 26,206.89 and the S&P 500 climbed 0.81 percent to 7,543.64, according to data compiled by CNBC. Those gains came even as the U.S. launched fresh airstrikes against Iran early Thursday and Tehran responded by targeting Gulf countries, an exchange of fire that followed President Donald Trump's declaration that a fragile ceasefire between the two countries had effectively collapsed.
Investors appeared to look past the renewed hostilities, with markets focusing instead on signs that commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had continued largely uninterrupted despite the exchange of strikes. According to Trading Economics, oil prices and bond yields eased Thursday amid evidence that laden tankers continued crossing the strait, helping calm investor nerves and supporting a broad rally across the financial sector, with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and American Express each adding roughly 2 to 3 percent during the session. Macquarie Group global energy strategist Vikas Dwivedi offered a similar assessment in a research note cited by TheStreet, saying, "We expect the renewed tension in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran to be relatively short-lived because both........
