Wall Street closed higher on Friday but finished July on mixed footing, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting monthly losses amid Middle East conflict, uncertainty over US monetary policy, and turbulence in technology stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53% on Friday to close at 52,485 points. The S&P 500 gained 0.70% to 7,489 and the Nasdaq added 1% to finish at 25,373.
For the month, the Dow edged up 0.3%, its fourth consecutive monthly gain according to CNBC, but the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq dropped 3.2%.
All three indexes rose about 1% for the week. The Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates unchanged was a key factor, though investors remain concerned about rising energy prices and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz linked to the Middle East conflict.
The Dow fell more than 1,100 points on Wednesday when the Fed decision was announced, then rebounded on Thursday. Analysts at Federated Hermes said monetary policy is also conditioned by doubts around temporary supply shocks, AI-driven investment, and reduced forecast disclosures in quarterly corporate earnings.
PIMCO economist Tiffany Wilding described as a background question whether the Fed’s tolerance for inflation persistently above 2% will change under chairman Kevin Warsh. Concerns about Warsh’s strategy pushed the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond to its highest level since 2007, at around 5.26%, while the benchmark 10-year yield approached 4.8%.
Texas crude closed at $84.67 a barrel on Friday, up nearly 22% for July after the United States and Iran resumed strikes and the conflict spread to other countries. Rystad Energy analyst Masanori Odaka said in a note that a Trump-Netanyahu meeting, a pause in US-Iran attacks, and renewed diplomatic activity have raised hopes for ceasefire talks to resume.
Apple fell 7.4% after warning of supply problems involving memory chips, wiping out $460 billion in market value in its worst-ever trading session and the second worst single-day loss for any US-listed company.
SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace and AI company, lost 36% of its value in July following its high-profile market debut and will report results next week.
By sector, energy led July gains at 11% and financials added 6%, according to Fidelity. Technology fell 0.5% overall, with the software subsector rising 13% while components dropped 20%.
